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THE 



OLD THEOLOGY 



RE-STATED 



IN SERMONS. 



BY 



/ 



HENRY H. TUCKER. 

'/ 






"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old 
paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your 
souls." — ^Jeremiah. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 
1420 Chestnut Street. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, by the 

AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at "Washington. 




tf 



PREFACE 



This book is not a Body of Divinity, as its title would 
seem to indicate. It is simply a collection of sermons, all 
of which, except two or three, were delivered on ordinary 
occasions, at various intervals, during a ministry of thirty- 
six years. The author has called it The Old Theology, 
because, while it contains most of his theological views, he 
trusts that no doctrine will be found on its pages which is 
not at least eighteen hundred years behind the times. In 
these latter days many new things in theology have been 
said, with which the author is not in sympathy, and he has 
been led to publish these sermons in the hope that some 
good may be accomplished by a re-statement of the sounder 
doctrines of centuries ago. The unrest of the age has 
produced many recent inventions, and these in turn have 
produced more unrest. In the old paths wherein our fathers 
walked, and in which Christ and the apostles led the way, 
we find rest — rest for our souls. H. H. T. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

SERMON I. 

THE GREAT PARADOX. 

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling ; for 
it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of 
his good pleasure. ' ' — Phil. ii. 12-13 9 

SERMON II. 

THE GREAT ALTERNATIVE. 

"Except ye be .converted, and become as little children, ye 

shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matt, 
xviii. 3 29 

SERMON III. 

THE GREAT LAW. 

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy Grod with all thy heart, and 
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy 
strength ; . . . And . . . thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself." Mark xii. 30-31 51 

SERMON IV. 

THE UNITY OP GUILT. 

"Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one 
point, he is guilty of all. ' ' James ii. 10 62 

SERMON V. 

THE NECESSITY OF THE ATONEI^IENT. 

"Without shedding of blood is no remission." Heb. ix. 22.. 82 

SERMON VI. 

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 

"A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." 

Rom. iii. 28 95 

5 



6 Contents. 

PAGE. 

SERMON YII. 

THE MOTIVE POWER 

" The love of Christ constraineth us." 2 Cor. v. 14 112 

SERMON VIIT. 

THE TEST OF LOVE. 

" If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments." Revised 
Version. John xiv. 15 127 

SERMON IX. 

NEGLECT OF THE GREAT SALVATION. 

"How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" 
Heb. ii. 3 143 

SERMON X. 

THE POSITION OF BAPTISM IN THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

"Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." Matt, 
iii. 15. " Gro ye therefore and teach all nations, bap- 
tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy ahost." Matt, xxviii. 19. "He that 
believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that 
believeth not shall be damned." Mark xvi. 16 157 

SERMON XI. 

THE JUDGMENT DAY. 

"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the 
holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne 
of his glory : and before him shall be gathered all 
nations : and he shall separate them one from another, 
as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats : and 
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats 
on the left," etc. Matt. xxv. 31-46 . . : 182 

SERMON XII. 

THE CALL OF THE SPIRIT. 

"To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 

Heb. iii. 15 200 



Contents. 7 

PAGE. 

SERMON XIII. 

THE SONS OF GOD. 

"Beloved, now are we the sons of Grod ; and it doth not yet 
appear what we shall be ; but we know that, when he 
shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we shall see him 
as he is. " 1 John iii. 2 220 

SERMON XIY. 

THE WICKED BLEST FOR THE RIGHTEOUS' SAKE. 

*'Lo! God hath given thee all them that sail with thee." 
Acts xxvii. 24 235 

SERMON XV. 

ANALYSIS OF NEARNESS TO GOD. 

*'Draw nigh to Grod, and he will draw nigh to you." 
James iv. 8 251 

SERMON XYI. 

3IULTIP0RM LOVE. 

"Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in 
heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." 
Matt. xii. 50 273 

SERMON XVII. 

god's ETERNAL PURPOSE. 

"All things work together for good to them that love Grod." 
Rom. viii. 28 288 

SERMON XVIII. 

THE GREAT PURCHASE. 

" Ye are bought with a price." 1 Cor. vi. 20 308 

SERMON XIX. 

THE USES, BEAUTIES, AND SYMBOLICAL TEACHINGS OF 
THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 

"As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put 
on Christ." Gal. iii. 27 330 



8 Contents. 



PAGE. 



SERMON XX. 

A CHARACTER AND A DESTINY. 

"He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall 
suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." Pro v. 
xxix. 1 346 

SERMON XXI. 

A NEW year's sermon. 

" Redeeming the time." Eph. v. 16 357 

SERMON XXII. 

DEDICATION SERMON FOR A NEGRO CHURCH. 

"Holiness becometh thine house, Lord, forever!" Psa. 
xciii. 5 371 

SERMON XXIII. 

THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 

"0 worship the Lord, in the beauty of holiness!" Psa. 
xcvi. 9. 385 

SERMON XXIV. 

THE KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS, PROMOTIVE OF MORAL 
COURAGE AND MENTAL POWER. 

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and 
perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, 
they marvelled ; and they took knowledge of them, that 
they had been with Jesus." Acts iv. 13 404 

SERMON XXV. 

OLD AGE AND DEATH. 

'* Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while 
the evil daj'^s come not, nor the years draw nigh, when 
thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them," etc. 
Eccl. xii. 1-7 ; 1 3, 14 427 



The Old Theology. 



SERMON I. 
TEE GREAT PARADOX. 



"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling ; for it is 
God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." 
— PHiLirpiANS ii. 12, 13. 

THE text seems to contradict itself. It addresses us as free 
agents ; and yet by assuring us that the first movement 
of the work enjoined is of God, whose action we cannot 
control, it seems to teach that we are not free. It brings 
up at once the apparently irreconcilable doctrines of God's 
sovereignty, and man's free-agency, — the great paradox of 
the centuries. 

Many a sincere lover of souls has been graveled by the 
scoffer, when this difficulty has been cast in his teeth ; many 
a devout believer has been afraid to face it, lest it migrht 
stagger his faith ; and many a one weak in the faith, but 
honest at heart, has had his misgivings lest, after all, the 
spirit of error, armed with such a stunning argument as this 
against the consistency of our teachings, should prevail over 
the Spirit of Christ. They tremble for the ark of God. 

Without meaning to underrate the magnitude of the 
difficulty, it is pleasing to observe that it has scared more 
people than it has hurt. No man ever yet gave up the 
religion of Jesus on its account, nor has it ever kept any 
man from embracing that religion. It is a thing which is 

9 



10 The Old Theology. 

prominent in talk, but which never modifies action. It con- 
front^ every man, yet every man walks on, just as if he had 
not been confronted. It is like a turnstile, which is in every- 
body's way, and stops nobody. Still, as it is often used as an 
ostensible excuse for wrong, to which the heart naturally 
inclines, as it is made to raise a fog, under whose cover evil 
doers and wrong thinkers make their escape from conviction, 
it may be well to see if a careful examination of it will not 
disperse the fog, and lead to the exposure of those who have 
taken refuge in it, leaving them without even ostensible 
excuse. 

When a troublesome question is to be met, nothing is 
gained by a tame and feeble statement of it ; on the contrary, 
the boldest policy is the best ; and the statement of the ques- 
tion should be made in terms as clear, and as strong, as 
human language will allow. In order, then, to make a 
fair and honest issue, let us begin with a definition of terms. 

What is meant by the sovereignty of God? It is meant, 
that God not only reigns, but rules. The universe is his 
kingdom ; eternity is his term of ofl&ce. The universe meant 
is the universe of things invisible and intangible, as well as 
the universe of things visible and tangible; it includes 
things spiritual, as well as things corporeal ; it includes 
everything conceivable and inconceivable ; it includes every- 
thing outside of God himself. By his rule is meant, that he 
controls absolutely all persons and things ; all existences, and 
all modes of existence ; all actions, and all modes of action ; 
and as before, the world of thought and feeling is subject 
to him, exactly as tile material world is subject to him; 
that every atom of matter, and, if the expression be 
allowed, every atom of not-matter, is under his direction; 
that he is supreme over the whole, and as supreme over each 
one of the infinitesimal parts, as he is over all. The Lord is 
King in any sense, and in every sense, in which absolute, 



The Great Paradox. ' 11 

eternal, and universal supremacy is possible. With these 
statements, it will not be said, that we have attempted to 
relieve ourselves from difficulty by an ambiguous or elastic 
definition, nor by a partial statement, or faint coloring, of the 
facts. 

What is meant by the free agency of man ? It is meant 
that every man can do as he pleases ; that he is master — 
absolute master of his own actions ; that as to these, he is to 
himself what God is to the universe — king. Having said 
this, we have said enough. But, though it is off the point of 
free agency, we add that man is morally responsible to God 
for all his actions, for all his thoughts, for all his desires, for 
all his feelings of every kind, for all that in his spirit-life 
he is. 

Now the question arises, How can a man be a free agent, 
if God is sovereign in the sense in which his sovereignty has 
been described? 

Relief from the pressure of the paradox thus raised may 
be found in five ways, and in five only ; a sixth has never 
been suggested, and never will be; either one of the five 
affords complete logical relief; and one or the other of these 
every man must accept; it is not matter of choice; one of 
them must be accepted, and in fact every man does accej^t 
one or the other of them, consciously, or unconsciously. 

I. Kelief may be foimd by denying the sovereignty of 
God. If two doctrines conflict with each other, and one 
of them be set aside as untrue, there is nothing left for the 
remaining one to conflict with. But the denial of God's 
sovereignty involves the necessity of proving that it does not 
exist. No argument can be found which will make this con^ 
elusion certain; and if there were such an argument, the 
mind shrinks from the conclusion. If we have avoided one 
difficulty, we have fdlen into another. If it can be proved 
that there is anything which God does not control, the same 



12 • The Old Theology. 

argument might prove that there is something else beyond 
his control, and this argument might be applied in succession 
to all the parts which compose the whole ; and the result is 
atheism. It is as easy to banish God from all his dominion 
as from any part of it. Wherever God exists, he exists as 
supreme. We cannot think of him as destitute of power, or 
as an inferior power, or as anything else than a controlling 
power. If there were a spot where God is not, or where he 
is not supreme, all right-minded beings would shrink away 
from that spot with horror. If there is a sphere or a spot 
where God's power is limited, where he could not control if 
he would, or where he would not if he could, how awful must 
be its desolation ! No, we cannot give up God, nor his sov- 
ereignty. From whatever difficulties such sacrifice may 
relieve us, it involves us in worse — in the w^orst. At the 
very thought of such regicide — of such deicide — we stand 
aghast ! It may be said, that the logic of the case does not 
require such a sacrifice as this; it requires only an abbrevia- 
tion, or a voluntary suspension of God's power. The soul 
shudders away with horror unutterable, at the bare sugges- 
tion that any of the attributes of the ever-living and all-holy 
One can fall short of infinite and absolute perfection, or that 
there can be a point in eternity when he will cease to exer- 
cise each and all of them to their full extent. We rejoice 
that such a thing can be, only as an object of thought; that 
there is no reality in it, and can be none. We rejoice that 
the Lord sitteth King, and we trample on a thousand para- 
doxes to join in the ranks of those who shout: "Alleluiah! 
for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!" 

11. There are five modes of relief, and we have rejected 
one of them. The choice must be between the remaininof 
four. Let us consider, then, the second. Easy escape from 
the difficulty is found in the denial of free agency; and this 
for the same reason as in the previous case ; when one of two 



The Great Paradox. 13 

conflicting doctrines is out of the way, the other has nothing 
to conflict with. But to deny free agency is to contradict 
our own consciousness ; and where can we go back of that 
consciousness to find premises on which to frame an argument 
that will overthrow its deliverances ? These deliverances can 
be neither proved nor disproved. What argument could be 
made to convince one that he exists, or that he does not 
exist? We call them the deliverances of consciousness, but 
are they not rather the deliverances of God, who has so con- 
stituted us that we do believe, and cannot but believe them ? 
It may be said that there are cases of mistaken consciousness. 
Be it so ; but such things are always recognized as the result 
of abnormal conditions. The whole race is not in an abnor- 
mal condition; and the race is unanimous in asserting its 
freedom of action. Not only so; responsibility is connected 
in our minds with freedom. All men are proud, proud ot 
something that they have done. Most men are ashamed at 
times, ashamed of something that they have done. Why 
should this be, if what we call our actions are not ours ? We 
hold each other responsible. When others do us a favor, we 
are grateful; when they do us an injury, we resent it. Why 
should we be either grateful for favors or indignant at 
injuries, if the persons who seem to have done these things 
have really not done them? No savage is low enough to 
regard men as things; and no philosopher has attained to 
such heights, as to be free from those emotions of pleasure or 
displeasure which the conduct of others excites. If a man 
really believed himself to be a mere machine, he would never 
again congratulate himself on any of his exploits, nor regret 
any of his misdeeds; nor would he ever experience either 
anger or approbation at the so-called actions of other machines 
like himself. Two clods of earth may be thrown in opposite 
.directions, and meet in mid-air, knocking each other to 
pieces ; but neither would attach blame to the other for the 

B 



14 The Old Theology. 

collision. It is impossible to get men to believe that they 
are like these clods. When they collide, they hold each 
other responsible ; but why should they do so if they are not 
free agents? 

But even if men could be brought to believe that they are 
nothing but tools in the hands of a superior power, that they 
are nothing but hammers and axes, the reaching of that con- 
clusion by the race would be the most awful calamity that 
ever befel it. All sense of responsibility, all moral distinc- 
tions, all sense of right and wrong, would be gone; all the 
moral affections which spring from these would cease to be. 
Intellect and animal passion might remain as they are ; and 
with this combination, man, brought to the level of beasts, 
would be the most ferocious of beasts. But why waste 
words? We do not, and will not, and cannot, deny our 
freedom of action, and the moral responsibility which it 
carries with it. Any man who does so is insincere. He 
would not be willing to see others embrace the doctrine, if 
he, or his family were in their way, or in their power. At 
the very moment when the denial is on his lips, let him wit- 
ness a heroic deed, and he will applaud ; or let him witness 
what is base, and he will denounce. 

As to the paradox, there is no doubt that we are logically 
free from its grasp by denying that men are free agents ; but, 
as in the former case, if we have avoided one trouble, we 
have fallen into another, and we have made a bad exchange. 
A thousand times rather let the problem be forever unsolved, 
than that its solution should come at such expense as this. 

III. We set out with five alternatives, and have rejected 
two of them. Our choice must now be between the remain- 
ing three. Our third avenue of escape is in denying both the 
conflicting doctrines. If neither of these is true, there is 
nothing to be accounted for. Men, in their desperate anxiety 
to hide from God, may try to persuade themselves that they 



The Gkeat Paradox. 15 

know nothing, and that they think nothing, and that no de- 
liverance of consciousness, and no injunction of conscience, 
and no deduction of reason can be depended on ; actually- 
using their reason to prove that they have no reason. But 
after all their talk, they are more orthodox than they pretend 
to be. Most of them, at the bottom of their hearts, recognize 
God, aye, a personal God, and all of them know that they 
are free agents and responsible. If we cannot deny either of 
the opposing doctrines, it is needless to say that we cannot 
deny both. So the third avenue is closed, and we are shut 
up to choose between the remaining two. 

IV. The fourth way to find relief is to show how the con- 
flicting doctrines can be reconciled. This would be g:rand ! 
This would be glorious ! Unfortunately it cannot be done. 
Perhaps not unfortunately. It may be better as it is; nay, it 
is surely better. But aside from this, the fact is that the 
solution of the problem lies beyond the reach of human 
powers of thought. It is the question of the ages ; it has puz- 
zled the world from the beginning. Not only has there been 
no solution ; there has been nothing approximating it. Not 
only so ; no progress has been made in that direction. The 
world's thought stands exactly where it always stood ; it has 
not advanced a hair's breadth; and at the end of time, it will 
be found where it was at the beginning. Is it suggested that 
we do not know what the future may develop? To save 
words, let this be admitted ; but it must also be admitted that, 
up to the present time, not one ray of light has ever been 
shed on the subject, and that an infant in the arms knows as 
much about it as the greatest thinker the world has yet pro- 
duced. Certainly the aspect of things is, that this is one of 
the things which the human understanding can never grasp. 
Hence, whatever may be said about " the developments of the 
future," all that we can do is to acknowledge absolute imbe- 
cility. True, there are some who waste their time in trying 



16 The Old Theology. 

to fathom the unfathomable ; but life is short, and it is wise 
to take the facts as we find them. The fact is, that the 
sohition of this problem exceeds our powers ; and hence the 
fourth method of relief is set aside. 

V. The fifth one, whatever it may be, is the one which 
we not only may, but must accept ; for we have burned the 
bridges behind us. As we had only five to begin with, and 
as four of these have been ruled out by a decision which 
admits of no reversal, our acceptance of the fifth becomes a 
necessity. But suppose that the fifth one should not be satis- 
factory ? For logical purposes, it is immaterial whether it be 
satisfactory or not; It exhausts the possibilities of the case ; 
and hence to refuse to be satisfied is to refuse to be human ; 
and we are not inclined to indulge in so vain a freak. It 
will be shown presently, however, that it is satisfactory to the 
whole human race in matters of practice, though, indeed, it 
may be an annoyance to those who vex themselves with the 
vanities of speculative inquiry. 

Here, then, is the conclusion of the whole matter : We 
must accept each of these doctrines as true, and if true, then 
reconcilable, for all truth must be harmonious with itself; 
but we must admit that the agreement of the two is not within 
the limits of human thought. Why should not this conclu- 
sion be satisfactory ? Is it at all surprising that there should 
be some things objectively in concord, which are not sub- 
jectively so ? Is it claimed for the human mind that it can 
solve all problems ? If there be any out of reach, why should 
not this be one of them ? Whatever questions may be asked, 
we are confronted with the fact (and facts are very stub- 
born) that each of the doctrines is substantiated, and with 
the fact that we cannot reconcile them. 

Anterior to the time of Lord Bacon, it was common to 
form theories first, and afterwards to shape the facts to fit the 
theories. It took the world six thousand years to produce a 



The Great Paradox. 17 

philosopher who perceived that this was preposterous, and 
that to begin at the right end, is to accept the facts, and 
shape the theory to fit the facts. In the present case, we 
have not troubled ourselves to form a theory, but have simply 
accepted the facts ; and there we rest. Each of the known 
facts is valuable. It is good to know that God is supreme, 
that we may render him that homage which is justly due to 
.his Infinite Majesty; it is good to know that we are free 
agents, and responsible, and responsible to Mm, that we may 
make his law the rule of our lives. God allows us to know 
as much as is of value to us, and nothing more. 

The solution of the paradox would do us no good; and 
this appears from a fact which we may regard with great 
complacency. The fact is this: That our inability to solve 
the paradox has never had any practical effect on the ordi- 
nary conduct of mankind. * The puzzle is one which men 
talk about, but which never interferes either with religious 
duty, or with secular business. Those who desire to serve 
God will do so, without stopping to settle questions like this ; 
while those who are averse to his service would find some 
other excuse, if this were out of the way. So, too, in worldly 
affairs. It is admitted that God only can give the increase of 
the grain, but we never hear of an agriculturist who neglects 
to till the ground on this account. It is admitted that our 
lives are in the hands of God ; but we never hear of one fall- 
ing into deep water who fails, on this account, to swim out, if 
he can. The metaphysician himself, who spends his time on 
knotty points, would forget his philosophy if he should hap- 
pen to tread on a rattlesnake, and would leap aside as nimbly 
as the swain who never heard of philosophy. The truth is 
that this is one instance in which the race, taken as a whole, 
is wiser than its philosophers. The common sense of man- 
kind has settled this question long ago. It has decided to 
accept the facts, and leave the harmonies uninvestigated. 

B2 



18 The Old Theology. 

The question is an open one with those only who love to 
perplex themselves with endeavors to discover the undis- 
coverable. 

There are those who try to make themselves believe that 
the problem under consideration is found only in the sphere 
of morals. It has already been intimated that this is not 
so, but it may be well to say more distinctly, that the same 
problem is found in every department of thought, and is 
involved in every action of every day life. A striking 
instance of this is found in social statistics. A certain pro- 
portion of every large population commit suicide. This pro- 
portion is a fixed quantity, and is known. Not only so : a 
certain number of the self-murderers will select poison as the 
means of destruction, a certain other number will use fire- 
arms, a certain other number will resort to drowning, and a 
certain other number will throw themselves from precipices 
or lofty buildings, not to mention various other methods of 
committing this unhappy deed. Now, confining our notice to 
the modes, the selection of the instrument of death is an act 
of human volition ; and in this case there is less influence 
from disturbing causes than in any other; for suicides uever 
advise about their plans ; they keep their own counsels, and 
in their choice of modes are perfectly free to do as they 
please. Their own Avill is supreme in the premises. Yet the 
proportion of those who will resort to any one of these 
methods can be foretold with almost mathematical certainty. 
Year after year, the proportions remain almost exactly the 
same; and if the inducticm should include many millions of 
instances, instead of only a few hundreds or thousands, the 
proportion would doubtless prove to be precisely the same. 
Such regularity dispels the idea of accident. Regularity 
proves law, and law implies a lawgiver. We see, then, that 
there is a law, a higher law, a law of which we know nothing, 
controlling human actions, while yet those actions are purely 



The Great Paradox. 19 

voluntary. How can this be ? We do not know. But the 
facts are before us. Nor is there any question of morals 
involved in them ; in the act of suicide the element of morals 
does indeed enter, but there is no moral element in the 
choice of modes; and as regards both the act and the 
modes of the act, we perceive that the proportions are uni- 
form. Innumerable other facts of the same character might 
be added.^ In all these it may be asked, " How is it that in 
things which are left to individual choice there is an outside 
power, unseen and superior, which lays down the rule by 
which these things take place"? And the question must 
remain forever unanswered. Yet we have no dispute on 
this question ; no bewildering cloud of dust is raised ; and 
nobody tries to get rid of the difficulty by denying the facts, 
nor in any other way. The facts are simply accepted, and the 
great paradox, though not understood, is quietly acquiesced 
in, and everybody is satisfied. Yet let the same question 
arise in any religious connection, and there are those who 
raise a pother, and, thickening the air with words, demand an 
explanation, promising to become disciples when the explana- 
tion is given — a safe promise truly. 

Again, there are some who raise no discussions, and say 
nothing on the subject, keeping their thoughts and their 
spirit-life to themselves, who nevertheless are secretly per- 

1 Among the millions of letters dropped in the Post Oflfices of the 
United States, there are always some with no superscription on the 
back, and these frequently contain money, and sometimes, large 
sums of money. The proportion of these to letters properly directed 
is always the same A certain other number of letters frequently 
containing money, are addressed to the person, without naming the 
city, county, town, or state. The proportion of these also is a fixed 
quantity, and never varies! The absent-minded ones are obeying, 
all unwittingly, a great law; a law that rules over all. Even so 
insignificant a thing as failure to give proper direction to a letter, 
most generally a letter of no value, cannot escape the all-embracing, 
all-pervading law ; yet freedom of action is not interfered with I 



20 The Old Theology. 

plexed because they cannot understand mysteries. The same 
common sense which controls them in other matters should 
control them here. The mysteries of nature are quite as 
profound as the mysteries of grace. Yet the persons referred 
to never allow the great paradox, nor any other paradox, to 
interfere with their worldly business ; indeed, all such things 
are unnoticed, and people need to be reminded of them to be 
conscious that they exist. But the moment that Christian 
duty is mentioned or thought of, mountains are in the way. 
The real mountain is not in the paradox, but in their reluct- 
ance to submit to the law of God, to the gospel of Christ. 
They imagine that their dispositions are all right, and that 
what intervenes between them and Christ is an intellectual 
difficulty. Not so ; the trouble is not in the head, it is in the 
heart. 

It is a very common thing for facts to appear to be incon- 
sistent with each other, when we know that they are not so. 
Why should not the same be true of principles? Let us 
select one illustration from many. Suppose a man to stand 
midway between the bars of a railroad, which for a long dis- 
tance is without curves. He will observe that a certain dis- 
tance before him, let us call it a thousand yards, the two 
lines of rail come to a point. There can be no doubt of the 
fact, because he sees it. Let him advance a thousand yards, 
and he will find that he was mistaken, not as to the fact of 
junction, but as to the point where it takes place; this point 
is ascertained to be two thousand yards from where he first 
stood. On advancing a thousand yards for the second time, 
he finds that he is again mistaken, just as before, not as to 
the essential fact, but as to its locality ; and thus he may 
repeat the experiment indefinitely, and the result will always 
be the same. Now let him go back to the starting point, and 
by the use of an opera-glass, he will discover that his eye had 
deceived him as to the distance, but not as to the fact of 



The Great Paradox. 21 

junction. With a ship-master's spy-glass he will find that 
the opera-glass deceived him, just as his eye had done. Then 
let him procure a glass of sufficient power to bring the end 
of the road optically close to him, and he will discover that 
his eye and all previous glasses have deceived him, not as 
to locality, but as to the essential fact, and that the rails do 
not come together at all ! Subjectively, the lines are at an 
angle with each other; objectively, they are parallel. 

If in this material world things may seem to us to be 
what we know they are not, why may not the same phenome- 
non exist in the world of thought? Is it an unthinkable 
thing, or an unreasonable thing, or even a surprising thing, 
that doctrines may appear to us to impinge on each other, 
when they do not so impinge? Indeed, it would be much more 
surprising if there were no such apparent, but unreal con- 
tradictions. Limited as our powers are, not one of us being 
able to tell why a grain of corn should grow when planted 
in the ground, it is inconceivable that it should be othei-wise 
than that many things should appear to us to be out of order, 
when they are in order. The trouble with the observer on 
the railroad was in his own eye, not in the outward facts. 
So in other things. We are very short-sighted. Things 
that extend beyond our range of vision seem to be at angles 
when they are parallel.^ When things which begin on earth 
are protracted into eternity, or whenever in any way, we deal 
with the infinite, it is to be expected that our weak vision 
will deceive us; we know that it will deceive us; we do not 
trust to it ; and we, in our duty to God, as all other men in 
practical business, walk by faith, and not by sight. These 
doctrines appear to us to impinge on each other; but we 
know that they are both true, and hence, w^e know that th<^y 

1 Sometimes the reverse is the case; that is. lines seem to be^ 
parallel when we know that they are at angles ; e. g., the parallax 
of a fixed star even with the diameter of the earth's orbit for a base. 



22 The Old Theology. 

do not so impinge, and that the contradictory appearance is 
only an optical illusion of the mind. With stronger vision 
we might see that there is no conflict, where now conflict 
seems to be palpable ; and certainly with God, who sees the 
end from the beginning, to whom the infinite future is as the 
present, truths which seem to us to run counter, just above 
our heads, rise up in sublime parallelism, towering into eter- 
nity, and each forever immutable. God is King, and we are 
his responsible subjects. With these facts let us be satisfied, 
and leave it to him, who alone is capable of it, to perceive the 
harmonies of eternal truth. To our eyes, God often seems to 
be at cross purposes with himself; but we may be sure that 
the All- wise and Almighty Lawgiver of the universe has no 
purposes but those of infinite excellence, and that he knows 
how to carry them out. Many of the dealings of providence 
are inscrutable, and some of them are just the reverse of 
what appears to us to be expedient, wise, or right ; but if we 
murmur, we are rebuked by the sweet song of Zion : 

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, 

Bat trust him for his grace ; 
Behind a frowning providence, 

He liides a smiling face. 

Blind unbelief is sure to err, 

And scan his work in \ ain ; 
God is his own interpreter, 

And he will make it plain. 

In all the storm of the most tempestuous life, we rejoice 
that the Lord reigneth. Oh, glorious faith ! Oh, the bliss of 
believing in God ! Clouds and darkness may be round about 
him, but nothing shakes our confidence, for we know that 
righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. 
It may be that in a better world he will reveal to us what 
he now keeps secret. It may be that we shall look back 
with spiritual eyes on this world, with the light of eternity 



The Great Paradox. 23 

shining upon it, and see that what now appears to be con- 
fusion and conflict and chaos was but the harmonious working: 
together of all things for good, to them that love God ; and 
it may be that our spiritual vision will be so extended that 
the great paradox will resolve itself before our eyes into 
simplicity and beauty ! But should this be denied to us, we 
shall still be happy, as we are now, in the God of our salva- 
tion, and will forever speak with joyous exultation of the 
glorious honor of his majesty, and of his wondrous works. 
It is painful to leave the heavenly atmosphere, and come 
down to a lower plane. There are men, already spoken of, 
who raise the point of difficulty treated of in this discourse, 
and demand its elucidation. Hypocrisy is at the bottom of 
all that they say. They pretend that they expect explanation, 
when they know that explanation is impossible. They pretend 
to believe that this difficulty inheres in Christianity alone, 
and that its ministers are under special obligations to make 
it clear, when they know that it inheres in all human affairs 
as well, and that it imposes special obligations on none. 
They pretend that this is the obstacle between them and the 
religion of Jesus, when they know that their motive in mak- 
ing the point is to raise a little wordy war, in the smoke of 
which they can make their escape. Or they may pretend 
that they are earnestly seeking the truth, when their real 
object is to annoy the preacher ; and they smile at his dis- 
comfiture, if he should be so unwary as to allow himself to 
be the victim of their scheme. There is unmanliness in this 
tissue of pretences. Why do they not come out squarely, 
like men, and say that they will not accept the gospel, be- 
cause they are unwilling to yield to its righteous demands ? 
What shall be done with these triflers? Their trick is an 
old one, and it requires grace to be forbearing ; but the in- 
junctions of the apostle come well to the point: "The 
servant of the Lord must not strive ; but be gentle unto all 



24 The Old Theology. 

men; apt to teach, patient; in meekness instructing those 
that oppose themselves ; if God peradventure will give them 
repentance to the acknowledging of the truth ; and that they 
may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who 
are taken captive by him at his will." 2 Tim. ii. 24-26. 

There are those who seem to imagine that they alone have 
discovered this apparent conflict of truths, and who parade 
their discovery, on frequent occasions, as an evidence of their 
superior intellectual acumen. So might a chattering idiot 
point everybody to a tree, saying, tree! tree! in order to 
exhibit his attainments in knowledge. Some pride them- 
selves on being able to ask questions which even a preacher 
cannot answer ; but this is a gift which they enjoy in com- 
mon with all little children who are old enough to talk. Of 
course, none but the shallower sort are so foolish as this ; but 
even these weaklings must be tenderly dealt with, and it 
may be that, in time, the manly humility of the gospel will 
displace their childish vanity. 

To-day's text is addressed to the " beloved," to " the saints 
in Christ Jesus, who were at Philippi." These were already 
saved, and the apostle knew it ; yet he tells them to " work 
out their own salvation." What did he mean by this ? That 
he did not mean that their good works were to be the ground 
of their salvation is manifest ; for, first, as just now stated, he 
knew that they were saved already ; second, because he says, 
in the very same breath, that the will, which lies at the bottom 
of character and action, had been set right by the power of 
God; and third, from the general tenor of the apostle's teach- 
ings. He surely did not mean to contradict, in these two 
lines, the doctrine to which he seems chiefly to have devoted 
his life. So whatever may be the right interpretation, we 
may be sure as to what is a wrong one. Possibly the words 
"fear and trembling " may help us to see what is meant. 
Why should they fear ? and why should they tremble ? Is 



The Great Paradox. 25 

it because God's promises are unsure ? or because the atone- 
ment might fail of eifect ? Surely Paul meant no such thing. 
The only ground of fear is that they might come short of 
doing the full measure of their duty; there is no occasion to 
tremble, except in view of their responsibilities to God, whose 
grace had saved them. The exhortation then seems to mean 
only that, with a becoming distrust of their own strength, 
they should strive to do those things which are the outwork- 
ings of salvation already inwrought. Elsewhere, the same 
apostle says : " Not of works, lest any man should boast ; for 
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good 
works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk 
in them." Eph. ii. 10. The way of putting the truth is very 
different in these two passages ; but if the language could be 
entirely dispensed with, and if the thought, in each case, 
could be presented to us as a picture, w^ould we not regard 
the two as pictures of the same thing? Language is, at best, 
but an imperfect medium of thought. If such a thing as 
spiritual object-teaching were possible, we should both appre- 
hend and comprehend many things of which we have now 
but poor conceptions. Suppose that there were a window in 
the apostle's breast, through which we could look, and see his 
tlioughts. Looking through the window into the apostle's 
soul, when he penned the text just quoted from his Epistle to 
the Ephesians, then looking when he penned this morning's 
text, would not the very same spectacle be presented to the 
eye? In each case, we should see that salvation is of grace; 
in each case, we should see that it is our duty to work ; in 
each case, we should see that the work is the outcome of the 
grace implanted ; in neither case should we see anything else. 
Thus are the glories of the gospel brought into a glowing focus, 
whose white light flings splendor all around, yet does not 
dazzle. Salvation of grace ! Glorious hope ! We stand on 
an eternal rock. Any other salvation would be an unfixed, 

c 



26 The Old Theology. 

an uncertain quantity, a shifting sand! Duties assigned us! 
Work to do ! Precious privilege ! Would we have it other- 
wise ? Half the joy of salvation would be gone ! Could it 
be otherwise ? Are those for whom Christ died to be the 
only idlers and drones in the universe ? Are they to be a 
gazing-stock, presenting the pitiable spectacle of intelligent 
creatures formed for infinite activities, yet doomed to the 
penalty of perpetual inertia? No! Works innumerable, 
works immense! and with them, commensurate joys and 
glories! The works being the outcome of the grace, are 
acceptable ; the imprimatur of grace upon them makes them 
acceptable. No other works could be acceptable ; for even 
the ploughing of the wicked is sin. " Work out your own 
salvation." The precept is for our obedience. " For it is God 
that worketh in you." The declaration is for our faith. 
Obedience and faith ! The two grand pillars of the whole 
Christian system ! Both reaching from earth to heaven, and 
therefore parallel; yet, as to us, whose sight falls short far 
this side the infinite, the space between them diminishes to 
nothingness, and they seem to incline to oneness. In spirit, 
they do thus incline; for faith leads to obedience, and obedi- 
ence strengthens faith. 

Work is duty ; and the more of it one does, while yet not 
trusting to its merit, and prompted to it by love, the more 
evidence he will have that he is the possessor of that grace 
from which alone such work can proceed. He may fear and 
tremble to the last; for the more progress he makes in the 
divine life, the more exalted will be his view of the law's 
demands, and the more impressed he will be with a sense of 
his obligation to the Lord who saved him, and with a sense 
of his own insufficiency. But as his faith in himself grows 
weaker, his faith in Christ grows stronger; and thus he de- 
velopes the grace that is given him, and is partaking more 
and more largely every day of the salvation already begun, 



The Great Paradox. 27 

and which will be completed in eternity. This is what is 
meant by working out salvation. 

The apostle gives a grand reason why the saints, — ^the 
saved, — should work. In this, they are carrying out the 
purposes of God, and thus become workers together with 
him ; in this, they are preparing themselves for an entrance 
into the kingdom ; in this, they enjoy a foretaste of the joys 
to come ; for the doing of his will is a part of that which 
makes heaven what it is ; and in doing it now, there is heaven 
beo-un. We can imao^ine ourselves to be aojain lookinoj into 
the apostle's breast, and there we see, in their beauty and in 
their excellence, visible sentiments, which we try to describe 
in words : " How has it come to pass that I have led this life 
of consecration? It is not of mvself; God has wrouofht it in 
me; and I am confident of this very thing, that he who hath 
begun a good work in me will perform it until the day of 
Jesus Christ. (Phil. i. 6.) To God be the glory, and let his 
service be my chief joy." 

Grace is a tree of the Lord's planting. Isa. Ixi. 3. The 
trees of the Lord are full of sap (Ps. civ. 16), and hence they 
never die ; but if we would hasten the bearing, and increase 
the yield, and infuse richness and aroma into the fruit, we 
must cultivate, and water, and cherish. If the planting of 
the tree is the Lord's work, it is ours to dress it, and to till it, 
that it may be " fat and flourishing." 

It is only speculative inquiry that troubles itself with the 
great paradox suggested by this morning's text, suggested 
indeed to us, but probably not thought of by the apostle 
when he wrote it ; he doubtless saw nothing but the beauty 
and glory of truth, and was not thinking of paradoxes, nor 
of profane and vain babblings, nor of oppositions of science, 
falsely so-called. Spiritual discernment sees nothing but 
what the writer intended — warm exhortation to duty, based 
on an eternal foundation. The gracious heart, profiting by 



28 The Old Theology. 

the words, distrusts itself, with fear and trembling, more than 
ever; trusts in Him who gives eternal life, with confidence 
more than ever ; and sets out afresh, in a life of work and 
worship, with increased and increasing zeal. 



SERMON II. 

THE GREAT ALTERNATIVE. 

•' At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who 
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little 
child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I 
say unto you. Except ye be converted, and become as little children, 
ye shall not enter into tl)e kingdom of heaven. Whosoever there- 
fore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in 
the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little 
child in my name, receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these 
little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a mill 
stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the 
depth of the sea." — Matthew xviii. 1-6. 

PRELianNARY remarks: 

WE learn from the parallel passage in Mark that there had 
been a dispute among the disciples as to who should be 
greatest; not greatest in the kingdom of heaven, as their 
question as reported by Matthew seems to indicate, but 
greatest among themselves; and the distinction coveted seems 
not to have been of heaven, but of earth. Our Lord did not 
answer their question, but proceeded at once to instruct them 
in the first principles of his religion ; and this was done in 
generic terms, such as would apply to the case in hand, it Ts 
true, but not more to that than to innumerable cases that 
might arise. He said nothing about rebuke, though they 
deserved rebuke ; he spared their feelings ; though in what 
he said there was rebuke, wonderful for its gentleness, won- 
derful for its power. 

The child spoken of was a little child, small enough, as 
we learn from Mark, to be taken in the arms. A larger 
child might not have been innocent enough to answer our 

C2 29 



30 The Old Theology. 

Saviour's purpose of illustration. Still, the child was not a 
mere infant, but was old enough to walk ; for it came when 
" called." Jesus did not say that the child was humble, but 
he did use the words, "Whosoever shall humble himself as 
this little child." There is no humility in a child's being a 
child, but there is humility when a man is willing to be like 
a child. That our Lord was speaking of mature persons, 
having some of the marks of little children, appears from the 
fact that he describes those " Avho believe in him " as " little 
ones"; and he uses this expression three rimes in this very 
chapter. In Mark x. 15, he says: "Whosoever shall not 
receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not 
enter therein^"; nearly the same words maj' be found in 
Luke xviii. 17 ; and this shows his meaning to be that the 
reception of tiie gospel must be in the spirit of a little child. 
In John xiii. 33, he says : " Little children, yet a little while 
I am with you." This was just after the Supper, when none 
were present but grown men — the apostles. From all these 
passages we learn that when, on another occasion, he said : 
"Of such is the kingdom of heaven," he refers not to actual 
infants, but to those "little ones," as they are called by a 
figure, who have " become as little children " (verse 3). It is 
common to quote the words, "Of such is the kingdom of 
heaven," as applied to infants. But this is misrepresenting 
our Lord, for he did not use the Avords in this way. He was 
describing not our little ones, but his little ones; and the 
word such refers to characters, not to persons. That he does 
not refer to actual children, appears, not only from the con- 
text, but also for the reason that this interpretation of his 
words would seem to imply that the kingdom of heaven is 
composed wholly of children, to the exclusion of all others. 
It is a much more happy belief that little children, and those 
who are like them, are the inheritors of the kingdom. 
Doubtless, little children will be received into the kingdom, 



The Great Alternative. 31 

but this text does not prove it. The truth is, that no text 
proves it. The gospel is not addressed to those who are 
AvhoUy incapable of understanding either it or anything else ; 
and consequently nothing is said in the New Testament 
about the spiritual condition of such persons, nor of their 
future. It is only on general principles, not on particular 
texts, that our belief in infant salvation is based ; but those 
principles are broad enough to include all irresponsible per- 
sons, whether the congenitally insane, or idiots, or the infant 
children, either of Christian parents, or of those who have 
heard of Clirist and wickedly rejected him, or of heathen 
who never heard of Christ. 

The figure by which our Saviour speaks of believers as 
little children is a common one in the New Testament, It is 
a favorite figure with the Apostle John, who uses it frequently. 
"My little children," says he, "I write unto you"; "Little 
children, it is the last time"; "Now, little children, abide in 
him " ; " Little children, let no man deceive you " ; " Ye are 
of God, little children, and have overcome them" (the world). 
How manifest it is, that he refers to the spirit of little 
children in mature people, and not to actual children! So 
likewise Paul, in Gal, iv, 19, says: "My little children, of 
whom I travail in birth, ... I desire to be present with 
you"; and using the same figure, he says in 1 Cor, xiv, 20: 
"In malice be ye children, but in understanding be ye men," 
The Apostle Peter makes a similar application of the figure 
when he says: "As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk 
of the word, that ye may grow thereby," 1 Peter ii, 2, All 
these passages together have suggested the analogies which 
constitute the body of the following sermon. 

As the word converted is used in the text about to be 
selected, it may be well to explain irs meaning. Much 
confusion of thought has arisen from the interchangeable 
use of the words conversion and regeneration. Kegeueration 



32 The Old Theology. 

is a change wrought iu our moral nature by the Holy Spirit ; 
a change so radical and total, that he who experiences it is 
truly said to be " born again," and is actually and literally a 
new creature. From the very nature of this change, it must 
be exclusively the act of the Almighty; for none but he who 
creates can re-create. From its very nature, also, it can 
occur but once. When a man is once born of the Spirit he 
cannot afterwards be again born of the Spirit. One birth is 
all that is either necessary or possible. There may be one 
birth of one kind, and another birth of another kind ; but 
that there should be two births of the same kind is as 
inconceivable to all men as it was to Nicodemus. He who is 
"begotten of God" (1 John v. 18) and is "born of the 
Spirit" will forever remain begotten and born; nothing more 
will be needed to fix his state, and nothing can alter it. As 
with physical birth, when it has once become a fact, nothing 
can make it cease to be a fact, and nothing afterwards can 
make it more or less a matter of fact than it was at first. 

The word conversion, in its etymological sense (and it is 
used in this sense in the text), denotes a mere change of 
conduct. In this sense, conversion may occur any number 
of times. Conversion is the result of regeneration. It is the 
act of the creature as exclusively as any act can be. Re- 
generation is a change of nature; conversion is a change of 
conduct, which is the carrying out of that nature. The two 
things being so nearly allied in point of fact, and so nearly 
related in point of time, and so intimately associated in our 
minds, it is easy to see how the words which designate them 
have come to be used convertibly. To this careless usage, or 
perhaps figurative usage, which puts effect for cause, some 
serious difficulties owe their origin, and to this too, perhaps, 
some grave theological errors may be traced. 

The words, " kingdom of heaven," or " kingdom of God," 
have various meanino;s in the New Testament, and must be 



The Great Alternative. 33 

understood according to the context. In the text now 
selected it means the kingdom of grace in this world, and by 
imph cation carries with it salvation in the world to come. 

TEXT. 

"Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall 
not enter into the kingdom of heaven."— Matthew xviii. 3. 

To many minds, this morning's text presents a difficulty. 
Our Saviour says: ''Except ye be converted," to his disci- 
ples, who were regenerate. Our preliminary remarks have 
explained that while there can be but one regeneration, there 
may be many conversions. The disciples, though regenerate, 
had fallen into an evil way, and it was needful that they 
should be converted from it, that is, turned away from it. 
It is proper to observe, however, that while the words of our 
Lord were addressed to the disciples in form, they were in- 
tended for all mankind in fact. Jesus did not say which of 
them should be greatest, nor whether any of them should be 
such; but he laid down the broad principle on which his 
kingdom is founded. When he says: "Except ye be con- 
verted," what he means is, except any man be converted ; or 
as the whole verse may be paraphrased : No man can enter 
into the kingdom of heaven unless he turns away from evil, 
and becomes like a little child. That his instructions were 
of a general nature, and not intended for particular applica- 
tion to that occasion only, appears from the context. When 
he said : " Whosoever shall humble himself," he did not mean 
to say. Whosoever of you; he meant to use the word whoso- 
ever in its broadest sense ; that is, any man who will humble 
himself. When he said : " The same is greatest in the king- 
dom of heaven," he did not mean that any one of them would 
surely be greatest; he meant that any man, whoever he 
might be, who would exhibit the character which he meant 
by the symbol of a little child to aescribe, would be greatest. 



34 The Old Theology. 

The general nature, rather than the particular application of 
his discourse, is still more manifest from the sixth verse, 
where he says : " Whoso shall offend one of these little ones 
which believe in me,'' evidently including all believers, and 
most certainly not confining the thought to those who stood 
before him, though they too were " little ones," in the sense 
in which that expression is used. 

Our Saviour frequently describes things that are, or that 
ought to be, by telling us what they are like. The kingdom of 
heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, or like leaven, or like 
the ten virgins, or like a certain king, like to a treasure, like 
to a merchant, like to a net, like to a householder. In the 
text before us, we are taught that the spirit and character of 
the subjects of Christ's kingdom are like a little child's. 
Our Lord, not satisfied with mere verbal statement, resorted 
to his habit of object-teaching ; and to make the lesson so im- 
pressive that they could never forget it, he called a little 
child and set him in the midst ; and directing all eyes to the 
little one who was thus the central figure, with a band of 
apostles and the Saviour of the world standing around, he 
said : " Except ye be converted, and become as little children, 
ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." One of the 
evangelists says that Jesus took the child in his arms. Per- 
haps it was at this moment that, clasping the little one to his 
bosom, he said: "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself 
as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of 
heaven." How great is the mystery of godliness ! A little 
child is held up before the whole world, in the arms of the 
Son of God, as a model of greatness ! We should have 
selected a little child as an emblem of weakness. How 
different the relio-ion of Jesus from all teachino-s of human 
philosophy ! If asked, Who are the great ? we should point 
to those whose names stand out grandly in history. Jesus 
Christ in answer to that question, holds up a little child ! 



The Great Alternative. 35 

An illustration unearthlike ! The imprimatur of heaven is 
upon it ! 

There was nothing peculiar in the child which our 
Saviour held in his arms that made him, above other 
children, a pattern for our imitation. He served the purpose 
only in so far as he possessed qualities in common with all 
children. Neither was there anything peculiar in that band 
of disciples which made the lesson especially appropriate to 
them. The occasion indeed made the lesson appropriate, 
yet these were but specimen men, as that was a specimen 
child. All men need the same lesson, and all children 
embody that lesson in themselves. Whenever, O disciple! 
you see a little child, let it remind you of your Saviour, and 
of that impressive moment when he chose the weak things of 
this world to instruct, as well as to confound, the mighty. In 
every child you see a little evangelist, an unconscious little 
preacher, who brings you a message from Jesus, and repeats 
his sermon to his disciples. Wherever the patter of little 
feet, or the voice of childhood is heard, there to the end of 
time are re-echoed the teachings of the Saviour of mankind. 
It is wonderful indeed, and it is touching to think that God 
has chosen, not the noble and the great, nor heroes, nor 
statesmen, nor philosophers, whose example most people could 
not copy, but that he has commissioned a great army of 
little children, as the models for those who are to bear his 
banner, conquering through the world. When the evil 
passions that infest the world, as ferocious beasts the forest, 
shall disappear, and when is established the reign of the 
Prince of Peace, it will not be before brute force, nor yet by 
overwhelming argument, but under the subduing influence of 
those child-like traits which the gospel of Christ infuses into 
its disciples. 

Hear, then, all ye people! Be still, and listen when 
Jesus speaks. "Except ye be converted, and become as 



36 The Old Theology. 

little childi'en, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of 
heaven." Proud, high-minded, haughty, exalted as you may 
be, YOU must let yourself down ; manly and dignified as you 
may consider yourself, you must be like a little child, or you 
shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven — and, alas! for 
those who are shut out' of it! Here is the inexorable 
alternative, and you must choose between its two conditions : 
Take the little child for your model, or fail of heaven. 

It becomes now a natural inquiry, In what respects does 
the child-like character of the Christian consist? The answer 
to this question will constitute the body of this discourse. 

To guard against error, it is proper to say in advance 
that children are as really depraved as mature men. Hu- 
man nature is corrupt from the beginning. Too often even 
in earliest years we see symptoms of that evil spirit that 
infests the whole race. Still, the characteristic marks of 
childhood, the traits by which we describe it, are gentle and 
amiable. It is the period of comparative innocency and 
purity. It is the ideal childhood, childhood bereft of its 
imperfections, that is held up for our imitation. 

But to the particulars. The trait of childhood to which 
our Saviour seems most especially to refer in the text 
before us is what we call its humility; humility not as 
opposed to pride, but as opposed to ambition. The disciples 
had been striving among themselves as to who should be 
greatest. Children, that is, very young children, never do 
this. They do not know that there is any such thing as 
greatness. They have no desire for distinction, nor are they 
capable of entertaining such a thought. A man who is 
thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Jesus is just as in- 
capable of the desire. It is the very opposite, the very 
antagonism, of all that Jesus taught. The men among us 
who covet the high places, and who plume themselves on 
their attainment to them, would do w^ell to imagine them- 



The Great Alternative. 37 

selves in the circle that stood around the little child, whom 
Jesus then took in his arms, when, with amazing tenderness 
and marvelous beauty, and yet with the stern emphasis of 
heaven, the hateful spirit of ambition was rebuked. There 
is no virtue in the child's lowliness ; but when a man is so 
lowly, it is an ornament of grace about his neck. Ambition, 
such as led to strife among the twelve, especially when it is 
manifested, when it is worn on the neck, is the collar of a 
bad master. Tear it away ! Dash it down, O disciple, and 
instead of desiring to be greatest, make yourself less than 
the least. Do this, and whatever you may be on earth, you 
will surely be great in the kingdom of heaven. 

Humility, as opposed to pride, or what passes for it, is 
also a trait of children. The germ of the evil is within 
them, but it is not developed until they make some little 
advance in years. They regard not the difference between 
the high and the humble, the rich and the poor, the bond 
and the free. They love those who sympathize with them, 
whatever their condition. The little prince, if allowed to do 
so, would find a boon companion in the little beggar, priding 
himself on no vain distinction. In this respect the Christian 
should be like a little child. That which exists in the child 
from ignorance, must exist in the man from principle. The 
negative virtue of the child, which exists, because, as we say, 
he knows no better, should be the positive virtue of the man, 
and be practiced by him because he knows it is right. The 
Christian is not required to spend all his time in company 
with those whose inferior gifts have disqualified them for his 
companionship, or who for any reason are disagreeable to 
him. It is only a visit, and not permanent abode, which is 
the subject of eulogy at the last day ; and our Lord himself 
had his favorites. Out of all his disciples he chose twelve ; 
out of the twelve he chose three ; out of the three he chose 
one, the only one of whom it is said that Jesus loved him. 

D 



38 The Old Theology. 

We are allowed to indulge our feelings by seeking the 
society of those whose tastes and pursuits are congenial with 
our own ; individual preference is no more bound in this 
regard than in any other ; yet the teaching of the gospel is 
that we must mind not high things, but condescend to men 
of low estate. The very mention of condescension and of 
low estate is acknowledgment of difference in rank ; and 
condescension is the very duty that is enjoined. The man 
of God obeys his impulses at the same time that he obeys the 
injunction; he makes no distinction among the people of 
God, but in that capacity loves them all alike, except that he 
loves more those who have more grace. He has the same 
fraternal feeling for the servant that waits upon his table 
that he has for his most cherished and most distinguished 
guest. Even the low born and the low bred and the vile, 
the outcasts, he recognizes as the children of a common 
Father with himself, and will take delight in condescending 
to do them service. Whatever distinctions we may enjoy 
that elevate us among men, we should not pride ourselves on 
them, but enjoy them with grateful hearts, in all humility 
and lowliness of mind, remembering that it is not of our 
merit, but of God's goodness to us, that we are made to 
differ. The child is too ignorant to be proud, and therefore 
seems to be humble. The Christian should be too sensible of 
his own unworthiness to be proud, and should therefore 
possess the reality, of which the child bears the semblance. 
But there is another way in which children exhibit the 
same quality and teach the same lesson. They are not 
too proud to indulge in their amusements before anybody, 
or under any circumstances, and will gambol on the floor 
or on the lawn, before princes or peasants alike, or all the 
world, unconscious of self, and careless of criticism. He 
who would come up to the model must bear testimony for 
Jesus, v.ith the same forgetfulness of self and of the world. 



The Geeat Alternative. 39 

It would be hard for some of you to comply with the requisi- 
tions of the gospel before the gainsayers and the scoffers. 
But you must learn to care as little for the world in doing 
your duty, as a child does in seeking its pleasure. It goes 
hard with stern and strong manhood to humble one's self 
before the world, as the disciple must do when he puts on 
Christ. It is hard for sober middle age to confess its 
weakness; harder still perhaps, for scanty manhood, having 
nothing to spare, to acknowledge its insufficiency; but the 
alternative is distinctly put by Jesus Christ : " Except ye be 
converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter 
into the kingdom of heaven." You must come to it at last. 
The only question, if you are ever saved, is whether you will 
do it now because it is right, or wait until the eleventh hour 
and do it from a less noble motive. The true manhood is in 
doing it now. When you are weak, then are you strong. 
It is the splendid paradox of the gospel ; splendid because so 
striking, and yet so easy to understand, that the way to be a 
man is to be a child. 

But Avhile humility is the quality to which attention was 
specially directed when our Saviour uttered the words of the 
text, there are other points of analogy between the traits of 
childhood and Christian character which it may be instructive 
to consider. 

Children are forgiving; not it is to be supposed from 
virtuous principle, but because they are forgetful. Be this as 
it may, we know that an offended child cherishes no long 
resentments, and is soon pleased. The sleep of one night, or 
perhaps the lapse of half an hour or less, drowns in forgetful- 
ness the vindictive feelings of the little one, and he is ready 
to receive friendly offers, or to make them. Referring to 
this, the apostle says: "In malice be ye children, but in 
understanding be ye men." Not from lack of understand- 
mg, as may be the case with children, but with an under- 



40 The Old Theology. 

standing of all that is involved, with an understanding 
worthy of a man, be reconciled to thine adversary quickly. 
Thus in acting like a child, that soon forgets its wrath, you 
act not like a child, but like a God, who does not forgive 
merely because he forgets, but who forgets because he for- 
gives. 

But we turn to another point. Children are teachable. 
They never consider themselves too wise to be taught, and 
are not ashamed to be considered learners. He who would 
become a child of God, whatever his age, or however learned 
and wise, must humble himself, confess that he knows nothing 
as he ought to know, and sit down at the feet of Jesus, and at 
the feet of his disciples too, and learn. There is such a thing 
as pride of intellect. Men whose character is mature, and 
whose habits of thinking are formed, are apt to substitute 
their views, and what they call their philosophy, for the 
teachings of the Bible. All this must cease before they can 
enter the kingdom; not only so, they must be learners as 
long as they live. An affecting instance of this kind of in- 
tellectual humility is found in the case of Apollos, a man of 
transcendent eloquence, and mighty in the Scriptures, the 
splendor of whose rhetoric attracted, and the power of whose 
logic convinced, the gainsaying Jews. Notwithstanding his 
brilliant success, and the adulation that he doubtless received 
from admiring thousands, he was not ashamed to go to the 
house of the aged and humble Aquila and Priscilla, and, 
under the roof of this obscure but venerable couple, he learned 
the way of the Lord more perfectly. There is moral sub- 
limity in the sight of this old man and his wife^ so little 
thought of in this world, and at their feet the magnificent 
orator, Apollos, sitting like a little child — a learner! Beauti- 
fully and touchingly does this little piece of biography exhibit 
the childlike and teachable disposition of the follower of 
Jesus. So, haughty friend ! versed in learning, and great in 



The Great Alternative. 41 

wisdom, if you are not wise unto salvation, there is many a 
poor illiterate creature, and many a little child, whose teach- 
ings you would do well to listen to. The fear of the Lord is 
the beginning of wisdom. Until you have taken this first step, 
all your boasted attainments aud gifts are worthless. Those 
who have taken this step, however scanty their knowledge in 
other respects, are capable of teaching you that which is 
infinitely more valuable than anything that you possess, or 
than the whole world can contain. 

Another trait of little children is their confidingness. 
They believe what you tell them, without inquiring further. 
Every man ought so to receive the word of God. Faith is a 
necessity with childhood. If children would not believe the 
statements of their superiors, they could never obtain the 
data on which to base their own reasonings, and would 
remain forever undeveloped, m learning his letters, a child 
is told that a certain character is called A. Suppose that he 
doubts the statement, and demands the proof. It is manifest 
that while he is in this frame of mind he can never take the 
first step toward literary attainment. The Almighty has 
groat lessons to teach us, and we are but children, very little 
children, before him. Nor can we ever attain to the sublime 
heights of heavenly wisdom, nor even learn its alphabet, 
without receiving the truth of the word as unquestioningly 
as the little prattler standing at parent's knee receives in- 
struction from father or mother. Fortunately for him, his 
nature incapacitates him from doubt. But if little children, 
to their great advantage, regard human and therefore erring 
lips, as oracles, with what ready confidence should we receive 
the word of God ! That wise providence which has made 
faith the necessary antecedent of a vast portion of the 
knowledge attainable in this life, has made faith instinctive 
with children. The instinct of the child should be the virtue 
of the man. It is no humiliation, it is his greatest glory, to 

D2 



42 The Old Theology. 

learn from the all-wise Teacher. How vain, how silly, and 
how hateful are those philosophic airs which men put on, 
poor creatures of a day, when they affect a wisdom superior 
to that which is revealed from heaven ! If lack of faith in 
human authority would forever dwarf the intellect of child- 
hood, what wretched stultification must come from want of 
confidence in infinite wisdom ! 

Perhaps one reason why children learn so readily is that 
they have no preconceived opinions, and no prejudices. If 
men would cast away their notions, and accept the word as 
they find it, many would enter the kingdom who, alas ! will 
never see it. If men would come as new-born babes, desiring 
the sincere milk of the word, they would surely grow 
thereby. If they come as philosophers, they come in vain. 

Another point of view may be taken, slightly different 
from the last, yet enough so, perhaps, to warrant a distinction. 
Little children are happy in their parents' promises. They 
are never troubled with doubts, and they look forward with 
joyous anticipation to the fulfillment. No matter how good 
the piomised boon, nor even how impossible it may seem, 
they expect it with certainty, and never cease looking for it 
until it comes. The same exulting confidence should all 
men entertain in the promises of God's word. Nothing is 
too much for God to promise ; nothing is too great for God 
to do ; nothing is too good for God to give. On this let us 
rest, and continue in happy expectancy until all be fulfilled. 

It is a well-known habit of little children to remind their 
parents of their promises, and sometimes their importunity 
excites impatience and provokes command to silence. The 
example of the little ones, who never forget a promise, and 
never fail to urge it, with childish, but persistent logic, is for 
our imitation ; and we are the more encouraged to this when 
we remember that God, unlike earthly parents, never grows 
impatient, and loves to be reminded of his promises. No 



The Great Alteenative. 43 

service that we caa render is more acceptable. His mercy 
endureth forever ; and thus in his very nature is there en- 
couragement to pray without ceasing. 

Another remarkable trait of children is that they are 
happy in their parents' society. The great disparity in 
years, and in every other respect, makes no difference ; 
the little one is always eager to be folded to the parental 
bosom, where he nestles safe and happy. Especially is this 
the case when he is in trouble. The great soother of all 
the sorrows of childhood is to be taken up in parents' arms, 
and caressed. This is the affectionate and confiding joy 
of the Christian in communion with God. Earth has no 
delights so alluring as those of the closet and of the sanc- 
tuary. As little children cry for their parents, so, said the 
royal soldier-poet, who sat on the throne of Israel : " My 
heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." Espe- 
cially in the hour of adversity, the Christian turns from 
all the poor comforts this world has to offer, and looking 
to God as to a tender parent, asks, as it were, to be taken up 
and comforted "as one whom his mother comforteth." As 
the bruised child runs to his mother, and finds relief in her 
caresses, which soon makes him forget his little misfortune, so 
the Christian in his greater calamity flies, with his wounded 
and bleeding heart, to the bosom of his Divine Parent, and 
there finds comfort and consolation, w^hich more than repay 
him for what he has suffered. Thus affliction itself, however 
sore, becomes a blessing; for it causes us to draw near to 
God, and in that nearness we find a joy which is more than a 
recompense for any pang that human nature is ever called 
to endure. All this is true ; it is real ; it is the actual ex- 
perience of thousands, and will be testified to by a great 
multitude of the best men and women the world ever saw. 
What a blessed thing it is to be like little children! Alas! 
for him w^ho knows nothins: of this communion with God. 



44 The Old Theology. 

He is like a poor outcast child, who has no father, and no 
mother, and no home, and who wanders from place to place, 
and lives, and starves, and dies, unclad, unhoused, uncom- 
forted, unpitied, unprotected, and alone ! Oh, ye wanderers, 
when you come like little children to God through Jesus 
Christ, you will know what we mean when we speak of that 
sweet communion which exists between our Father in heaven 
and his children on earth ! 

Another feature, the reverse of w^hat we have been con- 
sidering, is worthy of our notice. Nothing makes a little 
child so miserable as parental displeasure. How many a 
man remembers the pangs that his mother's frown sent to 
his infant heart, and how he hasted to seek reconciliation 
on any terms, however humiliating, and thus relieved him- 
self of the insupportable displeasure. And oh! the sun- 
shine and the joy when the smile returned ! Think of 
having given displeasure to the Almighty ; and what joy 
can there be, with his frow^n followino- one throug-h life? 
Come like the little child, and confess, and ask forgiveness, 
and be forgiven, and be happy. 

But let us learn another lesson from these infant preachers. 
Little children feel a sense of their dependence, and look 
up to their parents for everything. They have no confidence 
in their ability to provide for themselves, and they never 
trouble themselves about it, relying wholly on parental care 
for support. The Christian, or he who would become one, 
must feel the same sense of dependence on God. Every man, 
saint and sinner, ought to have, and the true disciple does 
have, a constant, pressing sense of his own helplessness. The 
common blessings of life, the food that he eats, the raiment that 
he wears, he ought to regard, not as the products of his labor, 
but as gifts from God. Poor helpless dependent creature, 
you talk about your property, the products of your labor! 
Whence came your property ? Whence your ability to labor? 



The Great Alternative. 45 

Whence the blessing on your labors ? Remember that how- 
ever manly you may feel, you are really nothing but a child, 
and a very little child, before God, and that he has placed 
these things about you, compassionating your weakness. 

As to things spiritual, our dependence on God is even 
greater, if such a thing were possible, than for things tem- 
poral. Perhaps the greatest point of difference between the 
saint and the sinner is this : that one feels, and the other 
does not feel, a sense of perfect helplessness, of entire and 
absolute dependence. The saint comes saying : 

Just as I am, without one plea, 
But that thy blood was shed for me, 
And that thou bid'st me come to thee, 
O Lamb of God ! I come. 

Just as I am, and waiting not, 
To rid my soul of one dark blot, 
To thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot, 
O Lamb of God ! I come. 

The sinner forgetting his helplessness, unmindful that the 
blood of the everlasting Covenant is the only antidote for sin, 
tries to make himself better, in order that he may be saved ; 
just as if he could change his own moral nature; and just as 
if that would atone for the sins of the past, even if he were 
to succeed. A man must be convinced of the futility of all 
this before he can see the kingdom of heaven. One must 
become like a little child and feel absolutely helpless, and 
dependent wholly on sovereign grace for salvation. Good 
friend, you must not expect to save yourself in part, and 
leave the rest to God. You are like a very little child, like 
a babe of a day old, that cannot help itself at all. When 
you come to feel a sense of this imbecility, and put your soul, 
with confiding trust, in the hands of your Saviour, you will 
experience a joy for which earth supplies no parallel. 

Let us consider another resemblance. Little children, 



46 The Old Theology. 

when they obey their parents, do so, not because they see the 
reasonableness of the command, but simply because it is a 
command. Now, our Father in heaven has not commanded 
us to do anything of which we cannot see the reasonableness. 
Yet there is a great difference between one who does a certain 
thing because he sees it to be reasonable, and another who 
does the same thing because it is commanded. In one, there 
is the spirit of true obedience; in the other, there is not. 
One obeys God, the other obeys his own impulses. In this 
respect we ought to be like little children. We have no 
right to parley with our Maker. We require prompt and 
unquestioning obedience from our children ; we should render 
the same to our Father. When one is disinclined to dis- 
charge a certain duty, he is apt to see no reasonableness in it, 
and when he is called to that duty, he asks: "What good 
will it do? Is it essential?" Suppose one of your little 
children were to ask such questions ; how unfilial, how 
vicious a spirit it would manifest, and how quickly your 
authority would be enforced ! No little child ever asks such 
questions ; and " except ye become as little children, ye shall 
not enter the kingdom of heaven." The child of God has no 
questions to ask about essentials and non-essentials. His 
only inquiry is: "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" 

People sometimes excuse themselves from duty on the 
ground that they do not feel like it ; and they seem really 
and sincerely to believe that this absolves them from obliga- 
tion, or if not, that it at least diminishes guilt. The truth is, 
that it doubles guilt. They ought to feel like it, and they 
ought to do it. Here are two duties, and they discharge 
neither ; and they imagine that failure in one is an excuse 
for neglect of the other. The experience of Christians in 
regard to the discharge of disagreeable duties is that the act 
of obedience superinduces pleasure in obedience, and that 
oftentimes, what was looked at with dread is done with 



The Great Alternative. 47 

delight. The blessing of God comes on him who engages in 
the irksome task, and turns its pain to joy ; and the serene 
conscience ^vhen all is over is a grand reward. 

Men sometimes say : " If I do not feel like doing a certain 
thing, whatever it may be, that fact shows that my heaj't is 
not in it; and if my heart is not in it, I might as well not do 
it, for God looks at the heart ; nay, it would be better not to 
do it, for the doing of the outward act without the concur- 
rence of the heart, is hypocrisy : and, instead of honoring 
God, is insulting him." This is the sophistry of the pit ; those 
who use it have evidently had help from Satan. Better far 
be like a little child, which is not cunning; enough to invent 
ingenious excuses for disobedience, and knows nothing else 
than to obey. When Satan suggested to you that a painful 
or disagreeable duty discharged as an act of obedience to 
God is a thing done without the concurrence of the heart, 
then Satan lied. Nothing but the heart could ever incite a 
man to duty repulsive to him. The grandest triumphs of the 
spirit of obedience are when that is done which it is dreadful 
to do, but done because God commands. What soldier 
desires to charge a belching battery? But he obeys the 
order, and is promoted for gallantry on the field. Who 
desires to suck from a wounded limb the poison of a serpent? 
But he who does it is moved by high and noble impulses. 
Who covets the stake, and the faggot, and the flame ? But 
the noble army of martyrs, who have died for the testimony 
of Jesus, are witnesses now that they who suffered with him 
are now glorified with him. Get thee behind us, Satan! with 
thy lying logic; we are not such babes in understanding as 
to be deceived by thy vile misleadings. To do duty when 
we feel like it, is easy ; to do it when we do not feel like it, 
when it requires sacrifice, is the very heroism of the heart. 
Many a hard worker in some rugged field ; many a woman, 
the V ctim of domestic abuse, faithfullv obedient in distress 



48 The Old Theology. 

and bitterness, might well say, "I die daily"; and great will 
be their reward in heaven, for doing the very thing which 
Satan brands as hypocrisy! The spirit of unquestioning 
obedience, the spirit of little children, makes the grandest 
heroes of earth — or of heaven. Jesus Clirist himself said, 
"If it be possible, let this cup pass from me," but the cup 
did not pass, and he drank it to the dregs. 

A single point more, and this discourse will be closed. 
Children are growing, bodily and mentally, and daily tend- 
ing towards mature and perfect development. Thus, the 
child of God must daily grow in grace, and in the knowledge 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. This growth ought to be so rapid 
and continued, as to be obvious, and excite remark. Often 
on meeting our children, or those of our friends, after a little 
separation, we exclaim with pleasing emphasis, "How they 
grow ! " Thus in our hearts every good quality ought to 
develop, and fling its lustre around all our character and 
conduct, so that our friends on meeting us will be struck 
with our growth in excellence, and admire the expansive 
power of grace. 

If any in whom no growth is manifest claim to be chil- 
dren of God, that fact is evidence* that they are strangers to 
grace. All the children of our Heavenly Father grow. 
And as earthly parents watch with tender solicitude the 
growth of their little ones, and look on with glowing interest 
as they see their bodies symmetrically developed into forms 
of manly strength, or feminine beauty, and their minds unfold 
and ripen into maturity, so, only with infinitely greater com- 
placency, does our Father in heaven regard the growth of his 
little ones, who pass from babes to the full stature of perfect 
men in Christ Jesus, and every day become more and more 
assimilated to the image of himself who begat them. In 
their early Christian life they are like tender olive plants 
around the table of the Lord, which he rears 'and cherishes; 



The Great Alternative. 49 

but under his culture they become what Isaiah calls, " Trees 
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be 
glorified." 

And now we close the scene. We have e:5amined, part by 
part, the lovely figure placed before us by our Lord in his 
gentle instructions ; let us look at it a moment taken in its 
entirety. The little child is (1) humble, (2) forgiving, (3) 
teachable, (4) confiding, (5) happy in the promises of its 
parents, (6) happy in their society, (7) unhappy in their dis- 
pleasure, (8) dependent and helpless, (9) promptly and cheer- 
fully obedient, and (10) daily growing to full manhood. 
How grand the character of the man which could be thus 
described! How strange that colossal greatness should be 
found in such a model ! Who would have thought of such a 
thing but Jesus Christ ! 

Here is the test of discipleship. Happy they who come 
up to the model, for "of such" says the great Object-Teacher, 
of such in character and spirit, " Of such is the kingdom of 
heaven." 

Here too is the great alternative. Those whose character 
and conduct do not conform to the pattern, can never see 
eternal life. We must follow the copy or fall to ruin. 
" Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye 
shall not enter into the kmgdom of heaven." 

It was gracious goodness that placed the lesson on record 
for our instruction, and for our warning. It is a merciful 
providence, and a pleasing evidence of the divine love that 
teaches us the same lesson, in thousands of smiling and 
beauteous forms around us. The whole infant population 
of the globe are living oracles indeed, embodying in their 
nature a repetition of our Saviour's discourse. 

Whenever hereafter you are surrounded at home by the 
children whom God has given you, or when as you walk 
the streets or fields, you meet the joyous little ones, let the 



50 The Old Theology. 

sight remind you of the teachings of Jesus, and remember, 
that in each one of these you behold one of nature's preachers, 
whose counsel, if you follow it, will lead you to the bosom of 
your Saviour and your God. But, oh, forget not the great 
alternative, the most solemn that was ever put before man : 
" Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye 
shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." 



SERMON III. 

THE GREAT LAW. 

"Thou Shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with 
all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength ; . . . . 
And .... thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."— Mark xii. 
30, 31. 

THE universe in which we live, and of which- we are a 
part, is a universe of law. This fact is patent to our 
observation, so far as our observation extends. We witness 
the regular recurrence of day and night, the regular return 
of the seasons, the regular changes of the moon, the corre- 
sponding rise and fall of the tides, the unfailing regularity in 
the movements of the planets, the growth of plants and ani- 
mals, the gravitation of ponderous bodies, and the countless 
combinations of chemistry, and innumerable phenomena of 
like character, all taking place with precision. We have not 
seen the entire universe, it is true: but the conclusion is 
irresistible to our minds that the same regularity pervades 
the whole of it. We cannot conceive of such a thing as that 
there should be any part of the universe where there is no 
law; where cause and effect are unknown; where sequences 
are either impossible or uncertain, and where all is chaos un- 
controlled. We cannot dispossess ourselves of the conviction 
that wherever there is anything there must be some principle 
or power by virtue of which it exists, and which controls its 
modes or its action. We are also possessed with the unalter- 
able conviction that wherever there is law, there must be a 
lawgiver. We trace the word regular back to its root in the 
word rex, which means king. Rex, the king; regula, the 

rule ; regularity, the result of the rule. These words and the 

51 



52 The Old Theology. 

ideas expressed by them are indissolubly connected together 
in our minds. Law is the expression of somebody's will, nor 
can we conceive of law in any other sense. 

Moreover, we are so constituted that, when we see law 
executed, we cannot resist the belief that there is somebody 
to execute it. To execute is to do, and there can be no 
doing without a doer. If we believe that law exists every- 
where, by the same rule we must believe that it is executed 
everywhere; for a law that is not executed is practically no 
law. And if law is executed everywhere, he who executes it 
must be everywhere, potentially at least, if not in fact. The 
law which controls the universe must be at least commensu- 
rate with it ; nay, it must be superior to it ; for law embodies 
in itself the idea of superiority ; law controls; and that which 
controls must be superior to that which is controlled. He 
from whose will this law of the univei-se is but an emanation, 
must be superior to the universe, and to all that it consists of 
or contains. Whatever exists, exists by his will; surely 
nothing could exist in opposition to it ; and surely he who 
gives life, with all its organs and functions, to creatures so 
small that we can scarcely see them with powerful micro- 
scopes, cannot be indifferent to anything. He must be Sov- 
ereign Lord. He must not only reign, but rule. He must 
rule in a sense in which no other being ever ruled anything ; 
for his will lies at the bottom of all existence; each atom is 
the same to him as the entirety, and the entirety is the same 
to him as an atom. The Lord he is God, and beside him 
there is none else. The Lord sitteth kinsj forever and ever. 
Amen and Amen ! 

It may be said that the laws which have been referred to 
are laws only of the physical universe, and operate only in 
ways that are mechanical. We have before us a universe of 
intellectual and moral beings, and we are a part of it. For 
this universe, for these beings, there must be law. Without 



The Great Law. 53 

meaning to limit Omnipotence, we may ask: "Would it be 
possible for God to create them without law ? " As they 
exist only hy law, they can exist only under law. Could God 
create them and have no further will, nor thought, concerning 
them, and forget them? How could they exist when thus 
forgotten? The very fact that they live is proof to them 
that they are the subjects of law. So far as our race is 
concerned, their bodies, being material, are subject to law, 
like all other matter. Can we suppose that law is prescribed 
for the mere dust, and not for the spirit that inhabits it? Is 
it more important that inanimate matter should be con- 
trolled than that there should be rules of action for a livino;, 
thinking, sentient, potent energy ? Do the power and will of 
the Great King extend only to the most inferior part of his 
creation, and not to its superior part? Is he careful of 
matter, and careless of mind? Is the spiritual universe 
beyond his dominion ? To some extent, at least, beings who 
think and feel, and who have perceptions of right and wrong, 
are in his image ; to some extent, at least, they are partakers 
of the divine nature. Are these to be left in a condition of 
lawlessness and anarchy and chaos, while brute matter, 
rocks, and clods are minutely cared for? The argument, a 
fortiori, once used by our Saviour in the Sermon on the 
Mount, comes in : " If God clothe the grass of the field, 
which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven," much 
more will his vigilance be sleepless over creatures of in- 
finitely higher dignity ! God would not regard the less and 
disregard the greater. Men, in their weakness and folly, 
sometimes give their attention to trifles, while they neglect 
weightier matters. But God knows how to proportion his 
care, and to administer with wisdom. If he has exalted any 
of his creatures in rank, we may be sure that they are 
exalted in his esteem, and they will be the subjects of exalted 
law, adapted to their nature and to their possibilities. 



54 The Old Theology. 

When God made the physical universe, he pronounced it 
good. It excited his admiration, but not his affections. In- 
capable of thought or feeling, it could not reciprocate love, 
nor inspire it. That which cannot love can never be lovely. 
But moral beings are capable of love; and can, to some 
extent, appreciate the majesty and glory and excellence of 
their Creator. These, God can not only admire, but love; and 
that which is beloved of God must be precious indeed. Is it 
to be supposed that such creatures as .these would be left to 
live, and have their being, under no fixed principles, and 
liable to infinite disorder and endless confusion ? Are they 
to make no report to him, nor to any, of their doings ? Are 
they made sensible of the distinction between right and 
wrong, and yet shall they have no law determining what is 
right and what is wrong? Are they to be responsible beings 
in nature, and yet irresponsible in fact? No! there is for 
them a law adapted to their nature ; he who has never failed 
in any other adaptation has not failed in this ; and if it were 
possible for one of God's laws to be more perfect than 
another, this would be the most perfect of all. 

This morning's text contains the whole code. " Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, and with all thy mind, and ^ith all thy strength ; and 
thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." There seems to be 
a little pleonasm in the expressions, heart, soul, mind, and 
strength ; but without this, there would not be that fullness, 
completeness, and exhaustiveness, which the text embodies. 
It is a marvel of conciseness, and yet a marvel of comprehen- 
siveness. These few words cover the whole ground, and 
describe the whole duty of man. Surely nothing more than 
this could be required ; surely nothing less than this would be 
suflBcient. The law is good ; the law is wise; the law is right. 
It is exactly adapted to the nature of moral beings, having 
affections and dispositions such as ours. It defines, with 



The Great Law. 55 

precision, the relatioDs that ought to subsist between such 
beings and their Creator, whose affections and dispositions 
are exactly the same, only that his are infinite and holy ; 
and who is their constant benefactor, from whose loving 
goodness there proceed ceaseless floods of blessing on all his 
obedient creatures. It enters not into detail ; but it gives, in 
a word, one great underlying principle, which, if it be ob- 
served, will be sure to make all the details, to the minutest 
and extremist ramification, as perfect as the source whence 
they sprang. Like begets like; and the ofiTspring of love 
is love ; and love is the very name of God ; nay more ; the 
pen of inspiration declares that G od is love. How can such 
a law be amended or improved? Verily, says the Psalmist: 
" The law of the Lord is perfect." 

If this law is exactly adapted to our nature, which we 
know it is, for otherwise it would not have been given us, 
how noble must be that nature! It is the subliraest law 
of eternity. We can conceive of nothing more glorious as 
emanating from the Infinite. And is this our law? It is the 
grandest argument for the dignity of human nature as origi- 
nally constituted, that we can conceive, or perhaps that is pos- 
sible. Most surely any one of us who should conform to it 
would be the impersonation of all that could command the ad- 
miration of Infinite Intelligence, the approbation of Infinite 
Holiness, or that could be the object of Infinite Love. 

"Do this and live!" Is the demand unreasonable? Is 
not the law perfect? Have not wisdom, and justi(;e, and 
goodness, combined their forces to make it the purest and the 
best? Have not all the attributes of Godhead united in the 
legislation of which this is the sum and the essence? How 
can conformity to such law be anything else than supremely 
reasonable? And how can violation of it be anything else 
than supremely itnreasonable ? 

" Do this and live." Ah ! but it is hard to do ! It would 



66 The Old Theology. 

seem that it ought to be the easiest of all things to do. The 
amazing question is, How can one do anything else? The 
law is adapted to the nature that God gave us, with the same 
precision that marks all his works. Yet we find it to be the 
fact, that the law is hard to keep. This fact is proof, strong 
as proof can be made, that some overwhelming calamity has 
befallen us. We cannot keep such a law% so supremely ex- 
cellent, so exactly fitted to creatures in our condition ! What 
awful moral disaster has overtaken us? How came we to be 
hurled from our sublime eminence into this abyss of infamy? 
I know of no more overpowering argument to prove what is 
known as the doctrine of total depi-avity, than the fact, that 
we find this law hard to keep, which ought to be the easiest 
to keep. To keep it ought to be the most exquisite delight 
of human souls, which they should enjoy with burning, glow- 
ing, rapture; yet our hearts rebel against it; we struggle 
hard to keep it, fighting against ourselves; and yet we do 
not succeed ; the task is impossible. 

I know of no more irresistible argument to prove that we 
are not in the condition in which God made us, and that man 
is a fallen creature. Some change, some great, radical change 
has come over our nature since our first estate. If the Bible 
did not reveal it, the facts reveal themselves. On the one 
hand is the law, in its beauty, and majesty, and excellence ; 
on the other hand, wonderful to behold, is our strange aliena- 
tion from it! Some disturbing ca'use has produced a com- 
plete perversion of our nature — a complete reversal of all 
our moral forces. We are in position of antagonism to that 
law ; and this is the only point on which the human race is 
unanimous. 

Without inquiring what catastrophe produced this fi'ight- 
ful revulsion, let us look at some of its results. Suppose that 
some one of our race had lived in exact conformity to the 
law for a thousand years, or for ten thousand, and had then 



The Great Law. 57 

violated it in the least particular, and only for a moment. 
The fact that he had violated it at all would show that some 
principle had entered into his heart, averse to all that is good. 
A man's principles are himself, and he is the embodiment of 
them ; and therefore he would be in an attitude of hostility to 
all that is wise, and pure, and good, and great. What happi- 
ness could there be in store for him? How could he ever 
again hold up his face in the presence of the holy ? The dis- 
grace would cling to him forever. The stain would sink into 
his soul, and blacken it through and through. He would be 
the object of loathing to all the just, and thrust from their 
association; his affections towards them, and towards God, 
would be reversed, and love would turn to hate; and thus, 
liating and hateful, he would career on from horror to horror 
forever. 

Is it said that, although there was some evil in him, there 
was also much good in him ; and that if he had the discredit 
of the one, he should have the credit of the other ? The evil 
and the good cannot permanently exist together ; one or the 
other must give way. If the good could not resist the evil 
when all was good, how much less could it resist when the 
barrier to evil has once broken down ? If the dykes cannot 
resist the flood when they are sound, how much less can they 
do it when they are broken? Nothing is so impetuous as 
sin ; and when it once finds entrance it comes rushing in like 
a mighty flood, devastating, overwhelming, and sweeping 
away to everlasting ruin. 

So much for one violation of God's holy law in its least 
particular, and that, after a life of rectitude for a thousand 
years. Suppose that m an ordinary lifetime that law should 
be violated every day. What an accumulation of guilt! 
Suppose it were violated every hour in the day. What 
mountains upon mountains ! Suppose that violation occurs 
with every breath one draws ; suppose that the violation is 



58 The Old Theology. 

not only in minute details, but that it is of the whole length, 
and breadth, and height, and depth of the law ; suppose that 
the wrong is not merely in Avhat one does, or in what he does 
not do, but in what he is; that is, that his whole self is 
arrayed in enmity against the whole law in its entirety ; then 
what ? Language fails ; conception breaks down ; and our 
souls stand aghast in horror ! 

Yet this is the condition of every member of the family 
of man. Think you that I have overstated the fact ? Then 
listen to the voice of inspiration. ' " The carnal mind is 
enmity against God : for it is not subject to the law of God, 
neither indeed can be." To each one of you, my hearers, 
these words are addressed ; and they describe the exact con- 
dition of every one of you. 

Let us repent, then, of our sins, and God will forgive 
them. What good will repentance of sin do, unless you 
abandon it ? Then, let us abandon it. That is one thing 
that you will never do. Have you ever tried to do it ? Did 
you succeed? Are you not conscious that your heart is 
always full of it ? We can at least weep over it ! An ocean 
of tears would not wash away your guilt. Then let us pray ; 
let us prostrate ourselves in the dust and cry out to high 
Heaven for mercy ! mercy ! mercy ! What good would it do 
to cry for mercy, when, if you were to receive mercy, you 
would rise from the dust, and begin another career of viola- 
tion of the law which says : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy mind, and with all thy strength, and thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself?" Picture to yourself a man trampling 
on this slorious law, and crying for mercy that he may be 
spared, to stamp it with his feet again ! 

What is our outlook for the future? Let us first ask 
what is the measure of our guilt? The guilt incurred by the 
violation of any law is always measured by the excellence, 



The Great Law. 59 

dignity, and necessity of that law. This principle is recog- 
nized in all human legislation. There may be a law which 
protects some interest of society, not very important. The 
violation of such a Jaw is called a misdemeanor, and is fol- 
lowed with some light penalty. But the violation of a law 
which protects some very high interest is called a high crime, 
and is punished with great severity ; while the violation of a 
law which protects a vital interest is called a capital crime, 
and is justly punished with death. The principle on which 
this gradation of penalties is founded is a proper one, and 
commends itself to the best judgment of our race. The same 
principle holds good on a larger scale — on the largest. The 
guilt of every human being before God is measured by the 
dignity, excellence, and necessity of the law of God. That 
law — in its most glorious majesty, in its supreme excellency, 
in its sublime conformity to the character of God, the All-wise, 
Omniscient, and Eternal Legislator, in its perfect adaptedness 
to those for whom it was made — has been before us this 
morning. It is the law of all laws, the paramount law, con- 
centrating in itself all perfection. A violation of this law, 
which is the foundation of God's government, is the highest 
crime that a moral being can possibly commit. It may be 
called a capital law — the capital law — the capital law of the 
universe; and hence its violation is a capital crime — the 
capital crime — the capital crime of the universe, concentra- 
ting in itself the essence of all cringes, including in itself all 
that is impious, profane, irreverent, sacrilegious, blasphemous, 
and abominable. The law and the guilt are at opposite ex- 
tremes; if one is infinite in excellence, so is the other in 
turpitude. There is no other measure of our guilt than this 
infinite standard. What other measure would any one sug- 
gest? None other is conceivable. I know of no argument 
which shows more appallingly the exceeding sinfulness of 
sin. 



60 The Old Theology. 

But what should be the penalty of violating such law? 
The penalty is always in proportion to the guilt; and so it 
ought to-be. What other proportion would any one suggest? 
If the guilt is infinite, the penalty must be commensurate 
with it. Human laws sometimes fail to carry adequate pen- 
alties with them ; but we may be sure that divine laws are 
always armed with divine power. Above all, we may be 
sure that God's supremest and sublimest law has the omnipo- 
tence of God behind it. If physical sequences are certain 
and sure, and follow with mechanical precision, much more 
will moral sequences be certain and sure, and be measured 
out with infinite exactness. If obedience to God's highest 
law will secure his highest approbation, we may be sure that 
disobedience to the same will provoke his highest (disappro- 
bation. The curse and the blessing are the measure of each 
other. If to the loving, God's love gushes out like a cataract 
for impetuosity, and like an ocean for breadth and depth, 
bearing blessings on its eternal tide, so to the hostile, his 
wrath in equal volume will rush forth like a fiery flood, con- 
suming, devouring, destroying, forever. O God! Thou art 
terrible from out thy holy places ! This law is his holiest 
place ; from out of this we may expect his greatest terror. 
If it be true that God is love, so also it is true that our God 
is a consuming fire. I know of no better argument, I may 
say no more terrific argument, to prove the total, awful, and 
everlasting destruction of the wicked, than the fact that they 
have put themselves in a position where the supreme law of 
God requires, in them, supreme vindication. " Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, and witn all thy mind, and with all thy strength ; and 
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" Do this, and live ! 
Fail to do this, and die ! Am I wrong ? From the throne 
there comes a voice of thunder, saying, "The soul that 
sinneth, it shall die." 



The Great Law. 61 

All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Is 
it possible then, that the whole human race is doomed and 
damned ? What shall we do ? Ah ! That is the question ! 
What shall we do ? 



SERMON IV. 

THE UNITY OF GUILT. 

"Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one 
point, he is guilty of all."— James ii. 10. 

rpiHIS appears to be a hard saying. Human nature rebels 
J- against it. Human reason protests, and says: "How 
can a man be guilty of that of which he is not guilty ? " 
The very terms of the text, in its first clause, pronounce the 
man not guilty in regard to the whole law with the exception 
of one point; and in its second clause, though in the same 
breath, it reverses the decision that very instant announced, 
and declares that the man is guilty of the whole. We look 
for analogy in human laws. Suppose a man is proved to be 
guilty of violating the revenue laws, by smuggling, what 
kind of jury would that be which on this evidence, and this 
alone, would find him guilty, not only of smuggling, but also 
of arson, burglary, bigamy, perjury, highway robbery, mur- 
der, and every other crime on the statute book ? Surely, we 
say, such a verdict would be most unrighteous and most 
absurd; and yet the word of God, or what professes to be 
such, finding a man guilty on one point only, declares him 
equally guilty of all the rest. Justice is an eternal principle, 
everywhere operative, and always the same ; hence what is 
unjust on earth, is unjust in heaven ; and to convict a man 
of all crimes, when he is guilty of but one, would be wrong 
both on earth and in heaven ; and no point of location in 
the universe, and no period in eternity, could ever make 
it right. 

The outrage upon justice appears the more conspicuous 
62 



The Unity or Guilt. 63 

■when we perceive that it makes no gradations in guilt. He 
who, in an unguarded moment, has let fall a forbidden word ; 
or who, for a single moment, has cherished an improper 
thought, which he instantly afterwards crushed, before it had 
ripened either into action, or into intention to act, is put in 
the same category with the diabolical wretch whose heart is 
thoroughly corrupt, and whose whole life is baptized in 
iniquity, transgression, and sin. This frightful agrarianism 
which makes no distinction between the thoughtless offender 
of a moment, and the life-long, deep-dyed, God-defying law- 
breaker and God-hater ; which has but one level for all, and 
that level at the bottom of the bottomless pit of guilt, is a 
thing which no rational creature can accept, nor even listen 
to, without rising up, with boiling blood, in revolt. 

I think it will be admitted that I have stated the view 
of the subject from the human stand-point, in as strong 
terms as the most violent objector could ask. Now what 
is to be said in reply ? So far as Christian faith is concerned, 
no reply is necessary, except this : " Thus saith the Lord." 
The man of God has so trained himself to habits of submis- 
sion to the will and to the law of the Almighty, that it never 
occurs to him to question any of his decisions ; and if ques- 
tions be raised by others, the instant reply of his heart is 
this : " From the judgments of the Supreme Court of the 
Universe there is no appeal, there can be none, and there 
ought to be none. The Judge of all the earth will be sure 
t ) do right. Clouds and darkness may be round about him, 
but nevertheless, righteousness and judgment are the habita- 
tion of his throne. His ways are past finding out. His 
wisdom is infinite, and his justice is commensurate with it. 
I am but a worm of the dust, and am not qualified to review, 
much less to reverse, the decisions of the Eternal and Al- 
mighty Law-giver and Creator of the universe. If the 
unlettered gamins and vagabonds of the street were to revise 



64 The Old Theology. 

the decisions of our wisest, purest, and highest tribunals, 
with a view to their improvement, the audacious and pre- 
posterous forth-putting would be but a small offence by com- 
parison. Nay : what my reason cannot grasp, my fait i 
joyfully acquiesces in ; blind myself, I trust infinite and all 
other concerns, with happy assurance, in the hands of the 
All-seeing ; helpless myself, I call on the earth, and the isles 
of the sea, and on all created beings and things, to rejoice 
that " the Lord reigneth ! " 

Oh, happy man is he, who can thus, with child-like con- 
fidence, trust himself unquestioningly to the care of Infinite 
Wisdom, and of Infinite Love ! His mind is not perturbed 
with doubts. He has no cares; his cares are all cast upon 
him who is able to bear them. In sympathy with God, the 
whole universe moves exactly as he would have it move ; 
and thus he becomes himself almost a king, almost the king, 
invested as it were with the omnipotence, and every other 
attribute, of the Supreme. Thus, and thus only, by being in 
harmony with God, shall we be as gods. 

How infinitely beneath this happy and exalted believer is 
the wretched man who resists the will of his Maker; who 
rebels against his authority ; who questions his justice ; who 
finds fault with his providence ; who tries to amend laws 
which are out of his reach ; who scoffs at what his feeble 
understanding cannot comprehend ; who tries to set up a 
court of justice of his own, before which God is to be 
arraigned, and where the All-wise and the All-holy is to be 
convicted first of folly, and then of sin ; and who, failing in 
this mad scheme, tries to ignore the existence of him who is 
the fountain of all existence, thus putting himself in per- 
petual antagonism with the Infinite! How ineffable is his 
folly ! How contemptible is the littleness of what he sup- 
poses to be his greatness ! How enormous his sin ! How 
infinite his ruin ! 



The Unity of Guilt. 65 

But while it is true that the heart of the pure desii'es no 
solution of real or supposed difficulties in the known law of 
God, still, it is right that we should try to understand, so far 
as they can be understood, the principles which underlie that 
law, and the harmonies which must pervade it. 

With the object in view, then, not of finding fault with 
God, but of putting ourselves in a posi.ion where we can see 
the majesty and beauty of revealed truth, let us investigate 
the subject before us. 

In the first place, then, let us observe that the analogy 
between human law and divine law fails, for a radical reason. 
Human law deals only with the overt act ; or at most, with 
the intention, as manifested by the overt act ; and without 
the overt act, it is both professedly, and actually, inoperative. 
Divine law looks to the heart, and to that only. In the 
moral responsibility of moral beings to a moral God, the 
overt act is not the thing to be considered. The desire to 
commit the overt act, before the desire has ripened into in- 
tention, is the point under jurisdiction; or to express the 
same thought differently, the desire is the overt act in the eye 
of divine law ; whereas to human law, mere desire, except 
when concrete with outward action, is invisible, intangible, 
and out of jurisdiction ; its very existence is unknown, and 
often unsuspected. And again : human law does not arraign 
a man on a charge against his general character, but only 
on a specific charge, for a specific offence. But divine law 
holds a man responsible for his moral condition — for that 
state of liis whole nature of which a specific offence is but the 
evidence, and not the substance. A single offence shows a 
carniil mind (Rom. viii. 6), and it is this carnal mind that is 
on trial. 

Divine law reaches to the real guilt ; human law reaches 
only to the outward expression of it ; or changing the figure, 
the one deals with the substance, the other only with tlie 

f2 



66 The Old Theology. 

shadow. The one is exhaustive, dealing thoroughly with the 
whole subject of guilt, reaching to the very bottom; the 
other touches nothing but the surface, and touches even that 
only at a single point. Inasmuch, then, as human law and 
divine law deal with different things, operate in different 
spheres, and must of course proceed on different principles, 
any analogy drawn from one to the other must be drawn 
with care ; there is liability to great mistake. What might 
be wrong in the one is not necessarily wrong in the other ; 
and least of all, is human law, which is at best only a 
wretched imitation of the divine law, to be set up as the 
standard whereby the latter is to be judged. The copy must 
be judged of by the original; not the original by the copy. 

The analogy now under consideration specially fails, for 
the reason already assigned, that in human law a man can be 
charged only with a particular offence, and of course can be 
convicted of that only ; whereas divine law charges a man 
with that state of mind, with that moral condition of his 
whole nature, which made a single offence possible. To the 
divine law the overt act is only the foot-print of the crime, 
but to human law it is the crime itself. Hence, in human law 
the guilt can only be commensurate with that foot-print; 
whereas in divine law the guilt must be commensurate with 
the moral nature of him who is guilty; and therefore the 
finding in the one case overspreads the finding in the other, 
by just as much as the whole character of a man overspreads 
a single point in his history. In fact, in either case, the find- 
ing corresponds with the indictment. In the one case a man 
is indicted for doing a certain thing, and of course can be 
convicted only of that; in the other case he is indicted for 
being in a certain condition, and he can therefore be fairly 
convicted of that. Hence, what seemed to be the righteous 
indignation of human nature against supposed injustice, is an 
indignation for which there are no grounds ; and is nothing 



The Unity of Guilt. 67 

more than the silly ebullition of one, on a subject which he 
does not understand, which he has never fully investigated, 
and to which he has probably never given a serious thought. 
He is like a juror, who is ready and eager to give his verdict 
with enthusiasm and with fury, having heard nothing of the 
law and nothing of the facts. We may safely pass him by. 
Thus are the solemn deliberations of eternity, in a moment 
set aside by human nature, when it undertakes to judge in 
its own case. 

Strong light is thrown on the whole subject when we 
remember, that the law of God is an indivisible unit — it 
is the expression of his will — it is the assertion of his 
authority — it is himself uttered. Any sin impinges on 
this unit ; any sin resists this will ; any sin rebels against 
this authority ; any sin is antagonism to God ; and antago- 
nism to God is being at opposites with all that is good, 
and with all that is great, and with all that must pre- 
vail. God and sin are the opposite poles, of all that can 
be conceived of, and of all that is; and he who clings to 
the one must be infinitely removed from the other. The 
Apostle James evolves this thought, in the verse next to that 
from which our text is taken. Explaining the reason of the 
statement, that he that offends in one point is guilty of all, 
he sa3^s : " For he that said. Do not commit adultery, said 
also, Do not kill : now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou 
kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law." God's 
authority is set at naught as really in the one case as in 
the other, as really in either as in both, or as in all. The 
spirit of disobedience and of insubordination to authority 
is the thing for which we are to be tried, and that spirit may 
be proved by one crime as well as by another. AVe speak of 
sins as if they were many, and in a sense, sins are many 
indeed ; but when we regard sin in its essence and stripped 
of its accidents we find that it is a unit; that there is but one 



68 The Old Theology. 

sin, that there can be but one, — the violation of the law 
of God. There are many ways of committing it, but that 
which is committed is always the same. He who has 
violated this law has committed sin, the sin, the only sin, 
which either he, or any other moral being, is capable of 
committing; he has exhausted the possibilities of guilt. 

The law is like a circle which if broken in one point is a 
circle no more, it is all destroyed; the law if broken at all, 
with impunity, is no longer supreme, and if not supreme, 
it might as well be destroyed altogether. It is necessary 
to the peace, and to the very existence, of the universe, that 
something should be supreme ; and if the law of God is not 
so, it is clear that nothing else can be ; hence any sin, even 
the least, has in it the elements of universal destruction. 

Or again, the law of God may be compared to a floating 
vessel which must be water-tis-ht, and which a single leak 
will destroy as effectually as innumerable leaks. A passen- 
ger on such a vessel, having willfully caused one such leak, 
need not show bloodless hands, and declare that he is in- 
nocent of cutting the throats of his fellow-passengers, and of 
robbing them. In that one act of springing that leak, he 
has included all other acts that involve supreme guilt. 
God's holy, righteous, perfect, and unbroken law is the only 
ark of safety for all beings and things. Its integrity must 
be preserved, for a single flaw would be fatal. Hence, he 
who has violated it in the least has committed a capital 
crime, which includes in itself the essence and the elements 
of all crimes ; and which tends as much to universal ruin, as 
if all crimes had actually been committed. 

We must remember too that God is a personal God ; that 
he is not an abstraction, not a mere principle, to be described 
by the word it rather than by the word he ; that he is not a 
mere creature of the imagination, but that he is an actual 
living Being — a real Person, a Person like ourselves, with 



The Uot:ty of Guilt. 69 

thoughts, feelings, intentions, and will. A violation of his 
law is an* insult to himself; and if insulted at all, it is his 
whole being that is insulted. He at least is an indivisible 
unit, and it is impossible to insult and outrage a part of him 
only, leaving the rest of his person unaggrieved. It is the 
living God, the entire God, who is set at naught, and defied 
by sin, and a single sin puts us in opposition to him as really 
and completely as any number of sins. 

We must bear in mind also, that man himself is an indi- 
visible unit. It is not a part of the man that sins ; it is the 
whole man. Sin is simply an expression ; but an expression 
of what ? Of character. The law of God is also an expres- 
sion — an expression of character. And the expressions being 
in conflict, the characters which are so expressed are in con- 
flict ; the two personal units are at variance ; the parties are 
at war with each other; and One sin is as much a declaration 
of war, of war against God, as all possible sins could be. 

We may be permitted humbly and reverently to illustrate 
our relations to God by our intercourse with each other. 
Suppose one man insults another; suppose the insult to be 
of the most ao^crravated character, and one which stinors honor 
to the quick, and rouses the whole nature of the man in- 
sulted. It would be in vain for the as-o-ressor to sav : " I 
have not offered him all possible insults, I have not injured 
him in as many ways as I might have done ; in fact, I never 
even insulted him except once." How well might the out- 
raged man reply : " I do not care to inquire into the whole 
biography of the creature ; I know enough of him, his one 
act, even if it were not followed by this cool intensification of 
it, is a representative act; it stands for all acts; it shows 
what he is capable of, and what his nature is, and what stuff 
he is made of; the greater includes the less, and the present 
outrage includes all other outrages ; it is broad enough to 
cover the whole ground ; it reaches forward and backward, 



70 The Old Theology. 

and covers his whole life, and puts mortal hatred between me 
and him." The illustration fails ; it fails in this : that in the 
one case the parties are both men, and consequently no outrage 
that one could offer to the other would be greater than an equal 
could offer to an equal. But when one of the parties is a 
creature of yesterday, whose breath is in his nostrils, and the 
other is the King of kings, and Lord of lords, the Almighty, 
and Ever-living Jehovah, who made heaven and earth ; when 
it is the Infinite Majesty of him who inhabits eternity that is 
insulted by one of his creatures, the crime is of infinitely 
higher grade than one created being could possibly commit 
against another; the issue made is immeasurably more 
tremendous; the chasm between the parties is one that has 
no shores; all the rest of the wretched creature's life is lost 
sight of; that one act blackens the whole of it; the moral 
debauchery stains him all over;' his soul is buried in the bap- 
tism of guilt ; there is nothing to be seen of him but crime ; 
and no created intelligence has patience to inquire what he 
was, or what he did ; if he had any virtue, it is thrown into 
dark and dismal eclipse by one dreadful deed ; one issue is 
enough to make with the law of Almighty God ; as that law 
is eternal, the issue is eternal; as that law is infinite, the 
issue is infinite. "Thy commandment is exceeding broad." 
"Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven." For 
ever lost, forever sunk in infamy, and in despair, is he who 
violates one jot or one tittle of it. 

When the law was announced from Sinai, neither man 
nor beast dared to touch even the border of the mount ; for 
if reasonino; man or even unreasonino; beast touched even 
the border of the mount, which, after all, was only earth 
up-heaved, the penalty was death ; so holy, so awful, was 
that place. But if the mere announcement of the law made 
that pile of up-heaved earth as holv as heaven, the unlawful 
touch of whose border w^as death, what inconceivable majesty 



The Uxity of Guilt. 71 

must there be in the law itself; and what eternal death must 
be visited on him who tramples on it, or who touches it, even 
if he touch it but once. A single touch, one single touch, 
with but the tip of the finger, on the border of Sinai, would 
have doomed to death the audacious and God-defying man 
who dared thus to brave the Almighty ; nor is the law of. 
God any less carefully to be guarded against infringement 
than the mere spot of earth where it was proclaimed. 
"The soul that sinneth it shall die." 

And now is not every mouth stopped ? Angels and glori- 
fied spirits have nothing to say. There is silence in heaven, 
for there are none there to controvert the law of God. And 
there ought to be absolute, as there is partial, silence on 
earth ; but in the stillness I hear a feeble whisper. I hear 
human nature whispering, "Ah, but, after all, there must be 
a diflference. There must be grades in guilt. It cannot be 
that he who has committed but one sin in a whole life time 
is in the same condition with him who has done nothing else 
but sin during his whole life." And even quoting Scripture, 
as Satan impiously did in attempting to confound the Son of 
God, the whisper tells of one to be beaten with many stripes, 
and another to be beaten with few ; and tries to infer from 
this that a few touches of the mount, especially if they had 
been light touches, would not have been fatal, the word of 
God to the contrary notwithstanding, repeating Satan's blas- 
phemous contradiction, " God doth know that thou shalt not 
surely die." The hiss of the serpent is heard to this day. 

Let us allow to human nature all that it can possibly 
claim. Let us admit, that he who has committed a single 
sin is not so wicked as he who has committed a thousand. 
But why talk about him who has committed a single sin, 
when there is no such person, and never was, and never will 
be, and never can be? It is impossible in the nature of 
things, that any creature can commit one sin, and one only. 



72 The Old Theology. 

Eternity can never witness such a phenomenon as that ; 
unless indeed the Almighty, on the very instant of the first 
sin, should smite the sinner into nothingness. Sin breeds 
sin. In each sin there is a prolific womb, that contains the 
germs of a thousand more; and each of the germs contains 
germs, and these again contain other germs. Sin is homo- 
geneous throughout; it is all of the same character and 
nature ; and each part, and parcel, and particle of it con- 
tains all the elements, and all the powers of reproduction, 
and self-multiplication, and self-perpetuation, that the whole 
of it does. It is like leaven, any part of which is virtually 
equal to the whole of it. 

Suppose, then, that human nature, with which I argue, 
should concede that there is no such thing as a sinner of a 
single sin, but claims that, after all, there is a difference 
between the pale-lipped trembling tyro of tender years in 
sin, and the hardened villain of three score years of guilt. 
Let us yield to human nature all the ground that can be 
asked. 

If the kingdom of heaven may be likened to leaven placed 
in meal, so also may the kingdom of darkness. Suppose, 
then, that there be two measures of meal, in two separate 
vfssels. In one of these, leaven was placed long ago, and 
now the whole of it is leavened. In the other the leaven has 
been placed but recently. Probably, the two are not in all 
respects in the same condition — now. But in the essential 
point, they are in the same condition even now. The one is 
itself a mass of leaven, it is true ; and the other is not ; but it 
will be, for it has the same principle in it. There is no salva- 
tion for it. It cannot take the leaven out of itself. It can- 
not keep the leaven from doing its work ; it cannot resist the 
inevitable. Its final state is only a question of time ; and its 
present state does not differ in real essence from its final 
state. For to begin the process of leavening is virtually to 



The Unity of Guilt. 73 

finish it. It is one of those things the end of which is 
wrapped up in the beginning. For the moment, there is a 
certain kind of difference between the two measures of meal. 
But if taken for all time, there is no difference between them. 
If they were to last for eternity, that difference that existed 
between them for a moment, would be lost sight of; and, 
taken altogether, it matters not which had a moment the 
start of the other. Nor will it make any difference in the 
final result, if one of the two was leavened by a single parti- 
cle of leaven, and the other by a hundred orreat lumps of it. 
They are absolutely the same in the end, and were essentially 
so from the beginning. 

Suppose these two measures of meal to represent two 
moral beings, subjects of moral discipline,* and to be treated 
for an immortal life; how else could they be treated justly 
than to be treated alike ? The question to be decided in the 
( ase of every human being is, not how much of the leaven of 
sin there is in his heart, nor how little, but whether he has 
any; and if he has any he has all. Each sin, however small, 
contains in itself the principle of disobedience to God ; ^ and 

iThe doctrine urged was discovered by a heathen philosopher, 
without the aid of revelation. Hear what Cicero says : " The fact in 
which the sin consists may be greater in one instance, and less in 
another, but the guilt itself, in whatever light you behold it, is the 
same. A pilot loses a ship laden with gold, or one laden with straw ; 
in value there is difference ; in the fault of the pilot, none. . . . Guilt 
can be made neither greater nor less. . . . All vices are equal. . . . 
Virtue is uniform ; nothing can be added to it to make it more than 
virtue ; nothing can he taken from it and the name of virtue bs left. 
Everything unlawful is heinous, even the most trifling thing. . . . 
What influence can more deter men from every kind of evil, than if 
men become sensible that there are no degrees in sin/ " — Cicero's 
Third Paradox. 

If Cicero had read the New Testament, he would probably not 
have expressed himself exactly as he did, but his thoughts are evi- 
dently on the New Testament line, to wit : that the outward act is 
only the expression of an inward principle, and the principle is the 

same, whether expressed in a whisper or in tones of thunder. 

G 



74 The Old Theology. 

in this statement, two important points are involved : First, 
If the principle is in all cases the same, then he who offends 
in one point has impliedly and virtually been guilty of all. 
But in addition to this constructive guilt, Secondly ; He in 
whose heart and nature this principle is found will, and must 
in due time actually and literally, be guilty of all sins that 
are possible to him. For if the impulses that move a man to 
sin are strong enough to prevail over the restraints that keep 
him from it when he is perfectly virtuous, much more will 
those impulses prevail over those restraints when he has 
ceased to be virtuous. If the man failed when all that was 
in him was good, and none of it bad, much more will he fail 
when the bad has come in to weaken his restraints, and 
strengthen his impulses to evil. Thus one sin makes it easy 
for another to enter. And if one sin can introduce one other, 
the two together can still more easily introduce a third. It 
will be more easy to commit the fourth sin than the third, 
and immensely more so than to commit the first. And thus 
there is a perpetual accumulation of power on the side of the 
wrong, and a perpetual loss of power on the side of the right. 
Philosophy can see no end to this progressive series of 
horrors, leading downward and deathward. There was sound 
philosophy and true theology in the verse of the Roman poet 
when he said : " Easy is the descent to evil, but to recover the 
step, there is the impossible !" And this morning's text 
instead of baffling our philosophy, as a superficial thinker 
might suppose, confirms all philosophy, both ancient and 
modern. 

But the inspired writings teach us this truth not merely 
in language which might be misinterpreted ; as if to guard 
against mistake, they embody the same doctrine in the state- 
ment of historic fact, thus illustrating the principle by actual 
experiment. It was not needful that our first mother should 
have devoured all the fruit upon the forbidden tree to bring 



The Unity of Guilt. 75 

death upon the race. It was enough that she but tasted it, 
and but once. That crime contained in itself the seeds of all 
crimes. From it ha'3 sprung a world of sin, and a guilty 
race. The spirit of fear sprang from that guilty act, and our 
parents hid from God. The spirit of shame came from it, 
and they hid from each other and covered themselves. The 
spirit of deceit came upon them, and they tried to excuse 
themselves. The spirit of unbelief came upon their posterity, 
and Cain offered a sacrifice with no blood in it ; the spirit of 
envy came upon him when he saw that his brother was 
preferred ; the spirit of murder leaped forth from this ; and 
from that day to this hour has never ceased to drench the 
earth with brothers' blood. And from the first moment 
when the air of Paradise was tainted with sin, the whole 
atmosphere of the earth, for six thousand years, has been 
corrupted with lies and with uncleanness and with blasphemy. 
It was "the fruit of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste 
brought death into the world and all our woe." Oh, that 
one crime, that has damned the human race, with its 
thousands of millious, is a witness before God and men and 
angels, with a voice louder than ten thousand thunders, 
proclaiming to all time and to all eternity that " whosoever 
:5hall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is 
guilty of all." 

From the teachings of this text we derive important 
instruction on what is known amono; theoloofians as the 
doctrine of total depravity. Men resist this doctrine, and 
declare that they are not as bad as they might be ; that they 
are not as bad as others are ; and that no man can be as bad 
as the fallen angels are, for whom the bottomless pit was dug. 
They forget that those angels were once pure, which none of 
us have ever been, and that one act of rebellion led to their 
present state and plunged them into their fiery lake. The 
same principle that makes them fit inhabitants of their dark 



76 The Old Theology. 

abode will make men so. All that men claim may be ad- 
mitted, and still the doctrine is true, that their moral nature, 
if they be sinners at all, is in a state of total ruin. It is true 
that they are not as bad as they might be, nor as bad as they 
will be; but they are under the operation of causes which 
will work to their moral disadvantage, with accumulating 
power forever and ever. Such ruin as this is total. All 
depravity is total; any depravity is total. Here, in this 
world, sin has not worked out its final result; and men 
are not totally depraved, in the sense that sin has done them 
all the harm it can do ; but they are totally depraved, in the 
sense that the principle of eternal death is in their nature. 
O wretched man, how lost is thy condition ! 

Another lesson to be learned is this : We see how vain ?t 
is to try to atone for one violation of God's law, by keeping 
that law in other respects. We may travel partly round the 
circle of duty, but if that circle is broken, our measure of 
duty is incomplete, nor will any number of rounds over that 
which is unbroken mend that which is broken. One sin is a 
blow at God ; and nothing that a man can do can atone for 
having struck his Maker in the face. The recoil of that 
blow must be damnation to the man, with all his so-called 
virtues clinging to him. 

But another lesson of most appalling character is to be 
learned. Take a man, honest, honorable, truthful, upright, 
benevolent; take a woman, pure, chaste, amiable, gentle, 
meek, the embodiment of all loveliness; take some guileless 
youth, hitherto unspotted from the world ; take some sweet 
girl, pure as a lily, the light of the household, a living joy ; 
take a little child, innocent as we use the word, the heaven- 
sent prattler of the fire-side ; and what is the diiference be- 
tween any one of these, and the lost spirits, the sin-saturated 
souls, hating and hated, cursing and cursed, blaspheming and 
damned, that writhe in perdition? It is the difference be- 



The Unity of Guilt. 77 

tween meal fully leavened, and meal just beginning to be 
leavened. It is only a difference of time, and of development. 
Essentially, there is no difference. It is impossible that sin 
should not diffuse itself. We looked just now at the experi- 
ence of earth, beginning with the sin of Eden. Let us look 
to the upper and also to the lower world, and we shall see 
that there, as well as on earth, the principle holds good, and 
that it is illustrated by facts antedating the. creation of the 
world. A single sin found its way into the heart of a glori- 
ous angel in heaven, and now he is known as the Devil — the 
father of lies — the arch-enemy of God and man. Think of 
his varied experiences ; first for ages, for aught we know, the 
experiences of heaven, in the presence of God, a companion, 
and Si fit companion of the pure and the blest, of cherub and 
seraph, that burn before the throne — then the experiences of 
chains, darkness, and damnation ! One sin transformed that 
almost adorable person into the maglignant fiend, the em- 
bodiment of all that is hateful, of all that is loathsome, and 
filthy, and accursed. Once he was at God': right hand, and 
now he is crushed under the heel of the Almighty. What is 
to prevent sin from having the same effect in us that it had 
in him ? The principles that underlie good and evil must 
for ever work out the same results. Like causes, with like 
circumstances, must produce like results. If there be differ- 
ence in our circumstances and his, it is a difference not in our 
favor. In the very nature of things, sin must always produce 
the effect of sin, and never the effect of anything else. The 
effect of sin — of any sin — is to alienate from God, to put us 
in an attitude of hostility to him, and to rouse his wrath 
against us; and this is perdition. The effect of sin, of any 
sin, is to lead to other sin, and of this again to lead to more 
sin and to all sin ; and this is perdition. Men are therefore 
virtually in perdition already. True, the final catastrophe 
has not yet taken place. But if two men were to fall from 

G2 



78 The Old Theology. 

some lofty precipice of inconceivable altitude, and one of 
them lay mangled and bleeding on the craggy rocks below, 
and the other Avere but just beginning to slide helplessly 
down, without a straw to cling to on his downward, dreadful, 
and fatal career, the difference in the condition of the two 
men would exactly illustrate the difference between the state 
of the amiable unbeliever in the congregation, and that of 
the spirits of the doomed and damned. Oh, is it possible 
that these bright and lovely faces are but masks of the 
demon within? that these dear ones whom we fold to our 
bosoms are fiends in disguise, and that they are at this very 
moment in the incipient stage of perdition ? Is there no 
difference between them and the lost dwellers in the lake of 
fire, except the difference between young serpents and old 
serpents? And the answer comes by apostolic lips from 
heaven, echoed back by the facts of Eden, re-echoed back 
again by the facts of heaven, and of hell: "Whosoever 
shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he 

IS GUILTY OF all"! 

And is there no escape? O righteous law of (.»od, is 
there no mercy ? And the law answers : " No — the soul that 
sinneth it shall die." O philosophy ! is there no relief in 
thee ? And philosophy but confirms what needed not to be 
confirmed — the word of God. O my soul! canst thou not 
save thyself? My soul is dumb. Angels, save me ! From 
them I hear nothing but this: "The Lord God Omnipotent 
reigneth. Holy and just are thy ways, O Lord God 
Almighty." I hear little ones crying: "Father, save me! 
Mother, save me!" But fathers, mothers, and children are 
all alike swallowed up in the same ruin, all equally strug- 
gling in the same gulf, whose dark waters, rushing on to 
eternity, bear its living burden on to perdition ! 

O Sun of righteousness! now dost thou arise, to bespan 
this roaring flood with thy bow of hope. " God so loved the 



The Unity of Guilt. 79 

world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that wliosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
There is salvation for the lost. It is not in man. His slrus:- 
gles only sink him deeper in the treacherous tide. It is not 
in angels ; they are but the ministers of God's will. It is not 
in the law of God. That is unalterable, inexorable, and 
eternal. It is in the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. If there be salvation, it must be vicarious ; and so 
it is. When Justice drew its flaming sword, he who was 
appointed from the foundation of the world bent his neck to 
receive the blow, and he did receive it. And we have but 
to trust in him. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. 
But is it not still true, that he that offendeth in one point 
is guilty of all? Yes, forever true; but the great revelation 
from heaven is that it is in the power of Omnipotence to 
re-create a man, so that he who was guilty is now not guilty. 
There is a means of beins: cleansed from sin. " The blood of 
Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." Washed in 
the blood of the everlasting covenant, not a single point of 
offence will be left in us. The Holy Spirit, by the blood of 
the atonement, Avill make us innocent. The spirits of the 
just will be made perfect. We shall be made lit to sit on 
thrones, to judge the angels. The law cannot be changed, 
but we can be changed. The law will never cease, but we 
shall be put in such condition as not to be amenable to it. 
Here, then, lost, perishing souls, is salvation for you. Be 
sure there is salvation nowhere else. It is a miracle to find 
it even here. Be sure there is no other miracle like this. 
Jesus Christ is the hugest miracle of eternity. If he cannot 
save, then there is no Saviour ; and if so, then we must either 
be lost, or, if not, then saved on our own merits ; and this 
last would be the greatest miracle of all ; this would abrogate 
all law, all law of morals, and all law of nature. The 
legislation of the Infinite and of the Eternal must all be 



80 The Old Theology. 

repealed ; the statute book of the Almighty must be anni- 
hilated. That miracle will never be. But the lesser miracle 
of a vicarious Saviour is. And shall we reject the Lamb of 
God that taketh away the sin of the world ? Do we prefer 
perdition to his loving arms ? The dying man and the living 
God united in one — in one glorious Person — the heaven- 
ordained Saviour of the race — shall we scorn eternal life 
because it comes from him ? Will we not have it unless we 
can work it out for ourselves, and that, too, when we know 
that we cannot work it out for ourselves ? In our extremity ; 
in our lost and ruined state ; having offended, not only in 
one point, but in many, any one of which involves the 
principle of all ; fallen and doomed and virtually damned, 
Jesus Christ, the impersonation of infinite love, appears and 
says: "Throw yourself Into my arms." But what evidence 
have we that he is able to save ? Evidence ! We want no 
evidence other than is embodied in the nature of the facts. 
Take the historic personage. His very look authenticates 
him as a messenger from the skies. His character is its own 
witness; and if it were not, his works are his witnesses. I 
risk myself with joy on him whose face beams with the 
brightness of the Father's glory, and who is himself the 
express image of his Person. Drowning men catch even at 
straws, but this is no straw. This is the Rock of Ages. This 
is he who from eternity was appointed to save. He speaks 
to us, and says : " Him that cometh to me I will in no wise 
cast out." And I answer him : 

Jesus, lover of iny soul ! 

Let me to thy bosom fly, 
While the raging billows roll. 

While the tempest still is high. 
Hide me, O my Saviour hide, 

Till the storm of life be past ; 
Safe into the haven guide, 

Oh, receive my soul at last ! 



The Unity of Guilt. 81 

other refuge have I none, 

Hangs my helpless soul on thee ; 
Leave, ali ! leave me not alone, 

Still support and comfort me. 
All my trust on thee is stayed, 

All my help from thee I bring ; 
Cover my defenceless head, 

With the shadow of thy wing ! 

And I know that every word of this prayer Avill stir the 
depths of the Infinite, and that we of ten thousand offences 
shall be made pure and holy, and that when we appear 
before the throne, it will be said : " These are they that have 
come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, 
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb ; and the 
Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall lead them 
unto living fountains of waters : and God shall wipe away all 
tears from their eyes." Amen and amen ! 

Now when we look at the inexorable relentless law which 
condemns us in all, if guilty in any, bitter tears are wrung 
from our eyes, and our heart-strings quiver with anguish 
and with dread ; but when we look to Calvary, and see the 
bleeding Lamb, whose blood at once satisfies law and 
cleanses us, our tears flow apace and afresh, but now not 
bitter tears — sweet tears ; our hearts palpitate again, but it is 
with hope and love and joy : and in God's good time all 
tears will be wiped from our eyes; all our perturbation will 
subside; and the serene complacency of an eternity with God 
will diffuse rapture, softened into calmness, through our souls, 
and our song forever will be, Christ our Righteousness ! 



SERMON V. 
THE NECESSITY OF THE ATONEMENT. 

" Without shedding of blood is no remission."— Hebrews ix. 22. 

WHEN we speak of the law of God, we refer to that system 
of precepts, with penalties annexed, which sets forth 
his will as to our moral condition and conduct. Every 
human being of responsible age has violated this law many 
times. As shown in a former discourse, a single violation of 
any part of this law is equivalent, in its results, to continued 
and ceaseless violation of the whole of it. Consequently, so 
far as law is concerned, that is, so far as this law is concerned, 
every responsible member of the race is doomed to all the 
penalties which that law carries with it. We are assured 
however, in the Scriptures, that there is a mode of escape 
from these penalties ; not that the law can be set aside, or that 
its operation can be suspended, but that it can be satisfied ; 
satisfied in another way than by inflicting its penalties on us ; 
and this method of satisfaction is called the gospel ; appro- 
priately called the gospel — that is, good news. We commonly 
speak of law and gospel as if they stood in the relation of 
antithesis to each other ; and so in a certain sense they do ; 
for under the latter we can be saved, while under the former 
we cannot. But really they must be harmonious; for all that 
I)roceeds from God must be consistent with itself. A court of 
equity is not intended to contravene law, it is only a better 
method of administering law, and itself is law ; for in the 
bosom of the law-making power, the distinction between law 
and equity, except as methods of attaining justice, does not 

exist. The illustration may be a feeble one ; still it shows what 
82 



The Necessity of the Atonement. 83 

is meant when we say that in its relation to the divine nature, 
the gospel must be law, as really as that which is known to 
us as law. The principles of what we call law we can easily 
understand. We know the distinction between rig-ht and 
wrong ; and we know that the things commanded are right, 
and that those forbidden are wrong ; and we can see the 
reasonableness of corresponding rewards and penalties. But 
the principles of that higher law, of that equity which we call 
gospel, are wholly beyond our comprehension. We are told 
that God intends to forgive, and exalt, and sanctify, and 
glorify some of those who have violated his law, and that 
others, some of them belonging to our own race, and some 
belonging to a different class of beings, he never will forgive, 
but will consign them to that eternity of woe which they de- 
serve ; but which they deserve no more than those whom he 
intends to forgive and save. Now, why it is that he should 
utterly destroy some men, and the devils, while he welcomes 
others just as bad to the joys and glories of heaven, we do 
not know. Of course it is wise and right, and consistent 
with the divine character, and therefore in all its aspects 
according to law ; for God can do nothing contrary to his 
own law ; but the principles of that law are wholly out of 
our reach. We can only say : " Even so, Father, for so it 
seemed good in thy sight." 

There are those who repudiate this higher law, this gospel, 
on the ground that it does not comport with their ideas of 
justice. We can only say to such, that the Almighty will 
judge them, but that they have neither the right, nor the 
power, to judge him. They are not competent to administer 
the affairs of so great a universe as this, and he is. He has 
revealed his gospel to us, and without understanding, we still 
accept, and joyfully embrace it. 

We are told furthermore, that in carrying out this higher 
law, God in the plenitude of his personality, identified him- 



84 The Old Theology. 

self with a member of our race, even with the son of Mary, 
whose name was Jesus ;^ and also that the death of this 
man who led a sinless life was a complete satisfaction to what 
we call law, so far as relates to all who believe in Jesus. 
Now how it is that the death of the innocent should atone 
for the sin of the guilt} , we do not know. But such we are 
assured in the Scriptures is the fact. If it be a fact, the 
announcement of it is good news indeed. With grateful, 
glowing hearts, we accept the fact, and here again, we say : 
" Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." We 
do not understand why it is, that the wicked are blest, for the 
righteous' sake ; but as it is the fact, we simply thank God for 
it. Nor are we anxious to inquire into the reasons of it; for 
if God is satisfied with it, surely we who are its beneficiaries 
have no cause to complain. Complaint would come better 
from any others in the universe, than from us. Instead 
of trying to fathom the philosophy of it, it would be wiser 
to avail ourselves of its benefits. It is as foolish, as it is 
wicked, to ask to be let into all the divine secrets before we 
accept the divine mercy. In worldly matters, nobody does 
this. We never hear of one who refuses to eat bread, because 
he does not understand the principle of life in the germ 
of the wheat from which the bread was made. We partake 
of the bread of eternal life just as we do of our daily bread ; 
understanding the philosophy of neither. Our first oflBice, in 
either case, is to accept the facts, and afterwards to inquire 
into the philosophy of the same, so far as we may be able ; 
but in no case do we let go our hold on the facts. 

We should never have thought of such things, as thou- 
sands of the phenomena which we see around us ; but as they 

^Not that the divine nature was superimposed on the human, 
as some have taught, but that the human was identified ah initio, 
with the divine— created in a state of blendedness. "That wliich is 
conceived. ... is of the Holy Gliost." Matt. i. 20. 



The Necessity of the Atonement. 85 

are before our eyes, we investigate their nature and their 
functions with pleasure and with profit; and we find much 
that we understand, and more that we do not. This last we 
pass by ; the rest we enjoy. So also we should never have 
thoug-ht of such a thino^ as that the sacrifice of one innocent 
man should save and glorify many guilty ; but as the fact is 
set before us in the word of God, it is proper for us to 
inquire, so far as we can, into the harmony of the fact with 
the law and nature of God. 

We are told that " without shedding of blood is no re- 
mission," that is, no forgiveness. Thus we are taught that 
on the condition of bloodshed, forgiveness is possible, and that 
without it, forgiveness is impossible. The blood that is re- 
ferred to is the blood of Jesus Christ, a sinless man, whose 
human nature was, in some mysterious and incomprehensible 
way, combined, identified, and unified with the Mighty God, 
so that the person known as Jesus Christ is a proper object 
( f religious homage, of the profoundest homage possible to 
human beings. 

Now why should the shedding of the blood of this glo- 
rious Person be necessary to the forgiveness of sin ? Some 
light may be thrown on the subject by a view of the justice 
of God. God's justice must be infinite, unchangeable, 
eternal ; incapable of compromise, or of any qualification or 
modification; it must be absolute. True, goodness and 
mercy are his attributes, but these cannot modify the action 
of his justice ; nor indeed can any attribute be exercised at 
the expense of another. The nature of God implies the har- 
monious exercise of all his attributes together. God is one ; 
and unity runs through all his operations. Now if justice is 
absolute, how is it possible that God could set a sinner free 
by a mere act of forgiveness ? This might be mercy, but 
would it be justice? A judge who has taken an oath to 
punish certain crimes, must punish them. His feelings and 

H 



86 The Old Theology. 

sympathies may forbid ; but whatever these may be, he is 
bound by his oath. The perfections of the divine nature are 
illustrated by the oath of the judge. God cannot allow the 
guilty to escape in contravention of law. The law is, that 
belief in the blood of him who died, the just for the unjust, 
is a satisfaction of its demands ; and that without this belief 
there is no satisfaction, and that consequently, the sinner 
must endure the penalties of his own guilt. Without this, 
forgiveness is impossible. The law requires blood. The 
higher law substitutes the blood of Christ for ours. If this 
be rejected, the other law must take its course. 

It may be said that justice^ so far as relating to the 
sinner, may be seen in the plan set forth ; but where is the 
justice to him who suffered without having sinned? We 
may reply, that no injustice is done to one who is willing to 
do what is done. If one offers himself as a substitute for a 
soldier, and is killed in battle, it may be his misfortune, but 
no injustice is done by the government in whose service he 
engaged, and no complaint of this kind would-ever be thought 
of. Christ was willing. 

The only wonder is that God should be satisfied with his 
death in place of ours. It must be admitted that this is very 
wonderful. But as it is the fad, we shout thanksgivings in 
view of it. After all, it is no more wonderful than the fact 
that we exist, or that anything exists. 

The doctrine set forth may be objected to on the ground 
that it shows God to be incapable of doing that which we 
ourselves can do. We can forgive an injury without any 
satisfaction having been rendered, either directly or in- 
directly, and we do frequently forgive in this way. Now if we 
poor, imperfect, creatures can forgive so freely, cannot God, 
who is perfect, do the same thing? No. Nor does it follow 
that a doctrine is false because it teaches or implies that we 
can do some things that God cannot do. We can do many 



The Necessity or the Atonement. 87 

such things.^ The apostolic expression, " It is impossible for 
God to lie," is the key-note to all that need be said. Per- 
fection implies the impossibility of many things which are 
possible to the imperfect. We can increase in knowledge 
and in wisdom; but of course this is impossible with God. 
We can grow in grace ; but his holiness is infinite from the 
beginning. We can look up to a Superior Being, but God 
has no superior. So, coming to the point before us, we can 
forgive without regard to justice ; but no such thing is 
possible to God. He has never disregarded justice, and his 
nature forbids that he ever should do so. In some incom- 
prehensible way, his mercy and justice must go together. We 
might even say, perhaps, that his mercy is nothing but justice 
operating in a certain direction ; and that his justice is nothing 
but mercy, operating in a certain direction. At any rate, all 
his attributes must be exercised in harmony. We can yield to 
our compassionate feelings, and decline to administer what 
we know to be justice; but with God, whose character is the 
perfection of sublime and eternal symmetry, there can be no 
passing by of crime as though it had not been committed. 
There is forgiveness, but it is not at the expense of justice. 
It is not without the shedding of blood. If Christ had not 
died, there would have been, there could have been, no for- 
giveness. Justice required penalty; and in this there is 
nothing wonderful. Mercy provided a substitute for us. 
This astounds us, it is true ; but why should it, when we 
remember that his mercy is infinite ? The substitute satisfies 
the law. This, while we are in our present state, we can 

1 Furthermore, we ?i\& commanded to forgive; and this command 
itself prohibits us from the administration of moral justice to offenders ; 
God has reserved that function for himself. Herein is displayed his 
wisdom. He knows that we are not competent to administer justice, 
while yet we are capable of forgiveness ; and for this he gives us 
grace. Justice and mercy together can be administered by none but 
himself. 



88 The Old Theology. 

never understand. We cannot see the point where mercy 
and truth are met together, where righteousness and peace 
have kissed each other. Nor have we any curiosity. What is 
satisfactory to God is satisfactory to us. We can see, however, 
in what has been said, the necessity of an atonement. With- 
out this bloodshed, the claims of justice would have been 
entirely ignored ; with it, we see that justice is recognized ; 
that its claims are respected ; and that an offer of most extra- 
ordinary nature is made to it — the sacrifice of a sinless man 
identified in person with the Great Creator of heaven and 
earth. 

We may learn something from a view-point slightly 
different. The honor of God would seem to make it im- 
possible that there should be forgiveness of sin without 
antecedent sacrifice. If he passes by sin without even 
noticing it, the eternal principle of right seems to have 
been set aside. Can God forsake his own principles ? If 
he allows his authority to be trampled on with impunity, the 
inference would seem to be that he regarded that authority as 
not worth vindicating. There would seem to be a loss of 
self-respect. What would be thought of a human govern- 
ment that would voluntarily, and publicly, abandon the 
enforcement of its own laws? Would it not bring itself 
into contempt ? God's law is exceeding broad ; and it has 
been violated in thousands of ways, for thousands of 
years, by millions of people. If he were to shut his 
eyes to all this and allow all this crime to pass as though 
it had not been, his administration would be so lax 
as to be without parallel, we must suppose, in the annals 
of time or of eternity. It is impossible to conceive of a 
being capable of devising a law as wise and as holy as God's 
law, and who would still have so little regard to it, as to pay 
no attention to its violation by a whole world fall of people 
who rush over it as recklessly as buffaloes over a prairie. It 



The Necessity of the Atonement. 89 

"would seem that if God were thus to ignore crime, he would 
• become particeps criminis, and the universe would look on a 
dishonored God. Not so, however. God forgives sin, but it is 
not by a direct act, and a mere act, of forgiveness. It is by 
previous arrangement for the satisfaction of justice, and for 
the preservation of his own honor. It would certainly seem 
that some arrangement with these objects in view should be 
made, and if infinite wisdom has selected Christ as the lamb 
to be slain, and his death as a sufficient propitiation, nothing 
is left to us but to acquiesce, to bless God, and be saved. 

There appears to us to be a necessity for an atonement 
for sin, unless the sinner is punished, from the fact that if sin 
were thus wholly ignored, all government would be at an 
end. If God were so careless of right, that fact would 
virtually be universal license. Laws without penalties, or 
which for any reason are not in some Avay enforced, are really 
no la\vs. Hence, but for the atonement, either sinners 
must have perished, or the universe would have been plunged 
into anarchy. But God has not thrown the reins of the 
universe aside; in other words, God has not ceased to be 
God. He has not abrogated law, he has not abolished 
moral distinctions; he forgives sinners, but he has not failed 
to assign its proper place to sin, nor to see that law is placed 
in the position of highest honor, even at the cost of iden- 
tifying the Supreme Majesty of heaven with one of his 
creatures. 

Certain it is, at any rate, that God, from the beginning, 
has pledged himself to the shedding of blood as the condition 
of the forgiveness of sin. The altar of Abel streamed with 
the blood of the firstlings of his flock, and God accepted his 
ofierino-. It was bv faith that the offerino; was made, faith 
we must suppose, in the blood of the promised Redeemer. 
Cain's offering was in itself quite as good, perhaps it was 
better ; it may have been as costly ; it would seem to uneu- 

H2 



90 The Old Theology. 

lightened eyes to have been more appropriate ; and certainly 
it excels in the element of beauty. But there was no hlood 
in it, and God rejected it. Faith in the blood that was to be 
shed in the fullness of time was not expressed by the fruits of 
the ground, and was not expressed, because it was not enter- 
tained ; and Cain's offering and himself were rejected. That 
he made any offering at all was an acknowledgment of God, 
but the absence of blood was a denial of his Son, without 
whose blood there is no remission. The rejection of this 
deistical worship, and the acceptance of the bloody offering 
which symbolized the precious blood of Christ, is God's first 
recorded testimony of the doctrine we preach, and this was 
given in connection with the first act of worship of which we 
have any knowledge. The practice was continued, with 
divine approbation, by the patriarchs. The Mosaic ritual 
was of divine appointment, and all its altars, were reeking 
with blood. Why was this ? Why ran rivers of gore from 
the temple ? Why were whole herds of bleating lambs, all 
innocent and unsuspecting, slaughtered and laid, smoking 
and quivering, on Hebrew altars ? This was God's system of 
object-teaching. He impressed the minds of those rude 
people with the thought, that without shedding of blood 
there is no remission, by requiring them year after year, and 
century after century, to slaughter harmless animals as an 
act of worship. The destruction of these animals by thou- 
sands upon thousands, by the authority of the Most High, 
was his emphatic testimony, and his thorough committal of 
himself to the doctrine that the shedding of blood is an 
indispensable requisite to forgiveness with him. Jesus Christ 
taught the same lesson when he said : " This is my blood 
of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remis- 
si(m of sins " ; and the blood-colored wine, which we drink in 
memory of our Lord, points back in symbol, as the blood of 
beasts once pointed forward, to the blood of the Lamb of 



The Necessity of the Atonement. 91 

God that taketh away the sin of the world. It is no new 
doctrine. That Lamb was slain from the foundation of the 
world ; that is, constructively slain ; and what this means is, 
that the death of Christ was intended from the beginning as 
the means whereby justice and mercy could both be satisfied, 
in the salvation of God's elect. This is a part of the coun- 
sels of the divine mind before any act of creation ; and is 
therefore part of the eternal law of God. 

But might not some other method have been resorted to ? 
We cannot measure the depth of the divine resources; but 
the fact that God has selected this method is proof that it is 
the best ; and if the best, then the only one worthy of him ; 
for nothing can proceed from him, or be adopted by him, 
which is inferior to the best. Hence we learn that it is 
impossible that God should forgive sin in any other way. 

As already said, we cannot see how it is that the law is 
satisfied with the death of the innocent in place of the guilty, 
though prostrate before him, we accept his assurance of the 
fact. Still, we can see that in the death of Christ the law is 
honored beyond all powers of expression, beyond all powers 
of thought. The phenomena of the atonement must surely 
be the most astounding that eternity ever witnessed. The 
Almighty and Ever-living God himself, in person, unites him- 
self with a member of a lost race. What an amazing fact ! 
The individual thus exalted by him above every living being 
on earth or in heaven is despised by his fellows. Another 
amazement ! He is buffeted, and spit upon, and crucified ! 
No wonder that the earth trembled, and that the sun hid its 
face. The philosophy of this sublime, this awful transaction, 
is too deep for us ; but this we can see : that the effect of this 
stupendous exhibition of God's respect for his law, and of his 
concern for sinners, must be infinite; and even the word in- 
flnite, though it means all that anything can mean, does not 
satisfy us; nothing can satisfy us; we have no capacity to 



92 The Old Theology. 

take in the thought. But we may surely feel safe in trusting 
to the plan which, by the crucifixion of the Sou of God, is 
made sacred, and made holy, and elevated in dignity to the 
level of the eternal throne itself, whether we can fathom all 
the depths of its wonders or not. 

It is a most noticeable fact, that the idea of the necessity 
of bloodshed to the propitiation of divine favor is not confined 
to those who possess the Sacred Scriptures, but, on the con- 
trary, seems to have pervaded the whole mass of mankind, 
in all ages, and among all peoples, savage and civilized, we 
find the same prevalent idea. This universal sentiment must 
be the result of one of two things: It must either be the 
traditional record of a revelation made by the Almighty to 
the race ages ago, before men were divided and scattered ; or 
it must be, that the human mind^ is so constituted by the 
Creator, that such a belief is intuitive, and a necessity of our 
intellectual life. Whether it is a revelation made to us, or a 
revelation made in us, is immaterial ; in either case, it is a 
revelation from God, and a thing to be believed. Still, our 
best reliance is the more sure word of prophecy, whereunto 
we do well to take heed. 

Admitting that bloodshed is necessary to the remission of 
sins, suppose that we make arrangements at once to slay cer- 
tain animals, with a view to securing the favor of God. 
Many men, quite as intelligent as ourselves, some of them our 
own ancestors, have done this, and many are doing it now. 
Why should W'C not do it? Our minds are so enlightened 
that we .see that there must be correspondence in the value 
of the blood that is shed, with the dignity of the law that has 
been violated. Hence we see that it is in vain to rely on tlie 
sacrifice of lambs. Others before us have seen and appre- 
ciated this iusufiiciency, and in order to make a better offer- 
ing, they have sacrificed the lives of enemies captured in 
war. But as these were only enemies, there seemed still to be 



The Necessity of the Atonemekt. 93 

a shortcoming ; and to supply the lack of dignity and value, 
friends have been laid on the altar ; and even yet there was 
a Cunsciousness that something more, and something better 
was needed, and men and women have caused their children 
to pass through the fire to Moloch; and yet human nature 
was not satisfied, (how much less the divine !) and men have 
tortured themselves with knives, and iron hooks, and scourges, 
and have finally sacrificed their own lives. So deep, so deep, 
is the yearning, so intense is the longing, of the human heart 
for a sacrifice of greater value than earth can supply ; such is 
the groping of men in darkness, such is the feeling out of 
human nature, after an infinite Saviour. But we surely see 
that no sacrifice of finite things that can be made can meet 
the demands of an infinite law. Any such effort is like pay- 
ing a debt of a certain number of dollars with an equal 
number of cents ; except that in this case the shortcoming is 
only as one to a hundred, whereas in the case illustrated the 
shortcoming is infinite. So then let us abandon the idea of 
slaughtering animals, or of making any ofiering whatever, 
even of the whole earth itself, with all its riches, and all its 
people, if we had the power to do so. The blood of Jesus 
Christ was appointed in eternity as the necessary and suffi- 
cient ransom for our souls. On this let us rely. On this we 
do rely with joyous confidence, thanking God for his un- 
speakable gift. 

If it be, as we have seen, that the eternal law of God re- 
quires blood as the condition precedent to the forgiveness of 
sin, those who refuse to avail themselves of the blood which 
God has provided synchronously with the law which calls for 
it, are committing soul suicide. Having disobeyed the law, 
they now disobey this higher law, this gospel ; and thus while 
they enhance their guilt, they, at the same time, make pardon 
for themselves impossible. 

There are those who profess a kind of faith in the atone- 



94 The Old Theology. 

ment wrought by Jesus Christ, but who postpone their full 
acceptance of it, on the ground that they are not good enough 
to be Christians, and who promise themselves that, after they 
have reformed, and amended their lives, they will give them- 
selves wholly up to the salvation of the gospel. They are like 
a man covered with mire, and greatly needing to be washed, 
who stays away from a cleansing fountain, on the ground that 
he is too foul to use its waters. He stays aAvay and becomes 
more foul ; and thus the reason which he gives for not coming 
to the fountain becomes stronger every day, while at the same 
time, the reason why he ought to come becomes stronger 
every day. 

There are some who imagine that they can cleanse them- 
selves, vvithout resort to the fountain. Their theory is that a 
life in future, of integrity, charity, and general morality, will 
have a solvent power, which will wash away the guilt of the 
past. If this be so, then the mission of Christ was unneces- 
sary, his blood was shed in vain, and the condescension of the 
Almighty, in clothing himself with flesh, and dwelling among 
us, was an uncalled for thing, and a waste of dignity. These 
are they who, " going about to establish their own righteous- 
ness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of 
God." Their mistake is fatal ; their doom is certain. But 
however long they may have persisted in this blasphemous 
rejection of the grandest ofler of eternity, we still say to them, 
even to them, in fidelity to our trust as preachers of this 
gospel, that the fountain is still flowing and ever-flowing, and 
that they are still invited to avail themselves of its cleansing 
power. Its touch will resolve into nothingness even such 
guilt as theirs. Let them but come to it, and they can sing 
as joyously as we : 

There is a fountain filled with blood, 

Drawn from Imnianuel's veins, 
And sinners, phinged beneath that flood, 

Lose all their guilty stains. 



SERMON VI. 
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 

"A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."— 
Romans iii. 28. 

THE law referred to is the most holy law of God, an 
epitome of which is found in the words: "Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. . . . 
And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." The specific 
acts which are under the control of the great principles set 
forth in this brief statement of the law are innumerable ; 
and, taken all together, they constitute the whole duty of 
man. Anv man whose whole life from beo-innino- to end ha« 
been passed in exact conformity to this law would be a 
perfect man, as perfect as any of the angels ; he would 
receive no forgiveness, for he would have done nothing for 
which forgiveness would be needed ; he would need no 
Saviour, for there would be nothing to be saved from. The 
beauty and the glory of the Lord would be upon him ; and 
so long as he continued to lead such a life, whether in this 
world or in another to which he might be translated, he 
would enjoy the favor of God in its fullness. 

But no man has kept this law. Every one of us has 
violated it times without number ; or perhaps I might say 
that we have violated it but once, and that is all the time. 
Neither one of these forms of expression conveys the whole 
truth ; it takes both of them together to do it. In countless 
ways we have violated the law by acts of disobedience ; and, 

besides this, our whole nature is in a state of chronic oppo- 

95 



96 The Old Theology. 

sition to it. Actively we break it ; passively we rebel against 
it. It is not the law that is the accepted law of our life. 
Our wicked hearts repudiate it ; and hence there is a mutual 
antagonism of the heart to the law, and of the law to 
the heart. 

The penalties of the law must be as great in their fear- 
fulness, as the law itself is in its grandeur. The latter must 
be the measure of the former. If the law is the highest 
expression of the will of God, its violation must call forth 
the highest expression of his wrath. What then is the 
condition of the human race? We can only say that those 
who have violated the law are obnoxious to its penalties; and 
to say this is to say that the race is the object of the ever- 
lasting displeasure of Almighty God ; and to say this is to 
say that the race is doomed to destruction and ruin, awful, 
unutterable, inconceivable, and endless. Their death sen- 
tence is found in the words of Scripture, " Depart from me, 
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and 
his angels." 

This is where the law leaves us. But the o;ospel, which is 
good news indeed, declares that, notwithstanding all this, a 
man may be justified; that he may be justified ivithout the 
deeds of the law ; that is, without obedience to law ; in other 
words, that, notwithstanding the fact that he has broken that 
law, he may be regarded as if he had not broken it, and that 
innocence may be attributed to him, instead of guilt. 

But all this is on condition. What is that condition ? 
Surely if one had no personal concern in it, his curiosity 
would be roused to the highest pitch to inquire what condi- 
tion that could be, which could lead to results so astounding. 
What can that be, which would forever suspend the operation 
of the eternal law of God ? We should look for something 
greater than the great mountains, and deeper than the great 
deep, and vaster than all the worlds, aye, for something com- 



Justification by Faith. 97. 

mensurate with the Infinite. And, so far as relates to the 
foundation on which the wonderful phenomenon is based, our 
expectations are just. Its foundation is laid in infinite love. 
Its history, though it is from everlasting to everlasting, may 
be stated in very few words, and the words are these : " God 
so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life." The foundation is the love of God ; the 
procuring cause is his only begotten Son, who is " the bright- 
ness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his 
person " ; the condition is expressed in the words, " who- 
soever believeth." Here no reference is made to the law, nor 
to the deeds of the law ; and the condition stands out in 
conspicuous solitude, " whosoever believeth." One might 
suppose that the " deeds of the law," though not mentioned, 
are implied. This morning's text mentions the deeds of the 
law, and mentions them only to exclude them. " A man is 
justified by faith without the deeds of the law." These have 
nothing to do wdth his justification ; that is based on different 
grounds. Both the passages quoted have many parallels in 
the Sacred Scriptures. " He that believeth on the Son hath 
everlasting life " corresponds to the first text, in stating the 
condition singly, and with no allusion to acts of obedience to 
law. '* That no man is justified by the law in the sight of God 
is evident, for the just shall live by fiiith," corresponds to the 
second in naming the condition, and also in naming the deeds 
of the law, in order to cast them out. These are but speci- 
mens of passages in the word of God, of which there are 
many, and no small number of them are in almost the same 
words ; w'hile in others the phraseology is greatly varied, 
though the doctrine taught is everywhere the same. 

The doctrine of justification by faith, as it is technically 
called, is simply this: That on the single condition of faith, 
excluding all other conditions, a man, a sinful man, is re- 

I 



98 The Old Theology. 

garded by Almighty God as a sinless man ; and, so far as 
relates to his eternal interest, he will be so treated, from the 
moment he believes, and forevermore. After this, he may 
sin ; and the Lord will chasten him for it, but he will not 
give him over unto death. (Ps. cxviii. 18.) On the contrary, his 
chastenings will sanctify him; and eventually God, who now 
regards him as innocent, will make him so, and he will really 
be sinless, and spotless, and pure, and holy, and in such 
spiritual condition, that he can, and will keep to the letter, 
and to the last iota, the glorious law — Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, and mind, and 
strength, and thy neighbor as thyself — with all the blessing, 
and all the exaltation which the keeping of that law implies. 

The sinful acts are not justified, but he who commits 
them is; the sin is condemned, but the sinner is delivered; 
disobedience, after one is justified, brings penalties with it, 
but these are temporary ; the great penalty is removed, and 
the sinful man, destined to become a sinless spirit, stands 
justified before God forever and ever. Faith is the condi- 
tion; justification is the result; and the result of this is eternal 
life; for "whom he justified, them he also glorified." Glo- 
rious ones we shall be made, who are justified by faith, even 
though we have not led lives of conformity to law. We 
shall never be saved by our obedience ; for with our depraved 
nature obedience is impossible. If saved at all, it must be in 
some other way. 

The foundation of that other way is as broad as the love 
of God ; its condition is simply faith. Only this, and nothing 
more. The condition is the same for all, for the high and 
for the low, for the wise and for the simple, for those whom we 
call good, and for those whom we call bad ; for there is no 
difference; "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of 
God." The vilest sinner stands on the same plane with the 
most righteous among us. We are all on the same footing, 



Justification by Faith. 99 

and the condition for one is the same as for another. Only 
believe. And is this all? This is all. 

The doctrine seems to be a startling one : that a mere act 
of faith will change a man's condition from one of deepest 
guilt to one of adjudicated innocence; and that as the result 
of this, a lost soul becomes a saved one. But why should the 
doctrine surprise us ? Certainly it is not because we have 
never heard it before. It has been the burden of the Chris- 
tian ministry for eighteen hundred years. Some things are 
always new, and never lose their freshness. The old story is 
forever a new story, and we seize upon it with ever-increasing 
avidity. Simplicity itself, yet sublime, if it surprises us anew 
with every recurrence, it is as those who gaze on the eternal 
throne are filled with fresh amazement, as they take in more 
of its glory. ^ 

It is the doctrine of the gospel. I had almost said its 
only doctrine. Certainly it is its most conspicuous and its 
most distinguishing feature. Certainly if this doctrine were 
taken out of the New Testament, what would be left of it 
would afibrd us no ground of hope ; the gospel element in it 
would wholly disappear. Our Saviour, eschewing argument, 
stated it, not encumbered with many words, but in syllables 
distinct as suns in the sky. " He that believeth on the Sou 
hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall 
not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him." He 
puts it positively — " He that believeth hath everlasting life." 
He puts it negatively — " He that believeth n ot shall not see 
life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him." Our brother 
Paul, inspired of God, in writing to the brethren at Kome, 
states the same doctrine with great length of argument ; and 
in his letter to the Galatians, he almost seems to have had no 
object in view, other than to spread out the doctrine, and put 
it in various shapes, that all might comprehend. 

The object of this faith is Jesus Christ. This glorious 



100 The Old Theology. 

personage combined two complete natures in one. He was 
entirely human, and also entirely divine. He was a man in 
every sense in which we are men, except that he was sinless. 
He was God ; he was in the beginning with God, and he was 
God ; all things were made by him, and without him was not 
anything made that was made. He was sent by God the 
Father into this world ; yet he came voluntarily. His 
mission here was to offer a sacrifice for sin which should be 
acceptable to God, and which would satisfy the demands of 
the law, of that holy law of love, compliance with which ex- 
hausts the possibilities of all created moral beings. As his 
powers are infinite, and as his mission has the sanction of the 
great Supreme, we may be sure that his errand has accom- 
plished all that he proposed. Schemes laid by men often 
fail; but a scheme devised in eternity by Almighty God 
cannot fail. If it be true that heaven and earth may pass 
away, but that not one jot nor tittle of the law shall pass till 
all be fulfilled, so also it is equally true, that heaven and 
earth will pass away, and the throne of God will be over- 
thrown, before one jot or tittle of Christ's work Avill fail of 
its accomplishment. The sacrifice that he offered was him- 
self. He allowed himself to be put to death by crucifixion ; 
and the blood that was shed on that occasion is the ground 
of our justification ; for as the apostle says, we are "justified 
by his blood " (E-om. v. 9). When he hung on that cross, 
our sins in the divine contemplation hung on that same cross 
Avith him, for says the Scripture: "He bare our sins in his 
own body on the tree." Our guilt was constructively placed 
to his account, and he had it to answer for, and did answer for 
it ; while on the other hand, amazing to relate, his righteous- 
ness which was perfect, was constructively placed to our 
credit, and we by the decree of God's grand Court of Equity, 
which supplies that wherein the law by reason of its univer- 
sality is deficient, are entitled to its rewards. Stated in our 



Justification by Faith. 101 

own words this seems too strange to be true; but here is 
exactly the same statement, in words which you will recog- 
nize as the words of inspiration : " For he hath made him to 
be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the 
righteousness of God in him." (2 Cor. v. 21.) In other words 
again, we have simply exchanged places with Jesus Christ ; 
the curse provoked by our violation of law falls on him, 
while the reward of absolute conformity to it is insured to 
us. This is justification; after this comes sanctification, 
which is the work of the Holy Spirit, and by which we are 
made not merely constructively holy, but actually so ; and as 
the final result, comes eternal life. 

The benefit of Christ's mission on earth does not accrue to 
all ; it avails only for those who believe on him. It is proper 
here to repeat some words of our Saviour once already 
quoted: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting 
life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but 
the wrath of God abideth on him." 

Having now spoken of Christ as the object of faith, let us 
inquire into the nature of that faith. The word faith, as 
used in the Scriptures, means all that is meant by the word 
belief, as it is used in common conversation ; but, besides this, 
it means more ; how much more we shall presently inquire. 
For the present, I will merely say that a man must believe 
in the sense of accepting as true, all that is revealed con- 
cerning Jesus Christ, and all that was said by him. The 
facts concerning him must be admitted; the truths enun- 
ciated by him, or under his direction, must command the 
assent of the mind. But a cold intellectual assent is not all 
that it takes to constitute the faith of which the Scriptures 
speak. Besides this assent, which is but matter of opinion, 
there must be accompanying sentiment — the sentiment of 
acquiescence, of hearty acquiescence, of joyful acquiescence ; 
so that one shall not only believe that these things are true, 

12 



102 The Old Theology. 

but be glad that they are true; one's heart must ratify tlie 
decision of his judgment, so that when his intellect decides 
that these things are true, his moral nature, roused to 
enthusiasm, will shout "Amen!" Nor is this all. Belief of 
a proposition is one thing, and confidence in a person is 
another thino;. It is one thino; to believe a man, and another 
thing to believe in him ; and one of these expressions means 
much more than the other. To believe a man is a specific 
mental act ; to believe in him implies a chronic moral con- 
dition. The one is a cold intellection; the other is an 
intellection warmed up with feeling. It is like the confidence 
which a man has in his wife whom he loves, and whom he 
knows to be worthy of confidence, of confidence supreme. 
The colloquial English idiom exactly expresses it — he believes 
in her. Without reference to any particular thing, his 
knowledge of her character and his affection for herself are 
such that his confidence in her is generic and all-embracing. 
Here is my heart : there is Christ's ; this heart trusts that 
one. The trust is universal, covering all. the ground that 
trust can cover ; it is unquestioning, it is implicit, and it is 
unshakable. Faith, then, is intellectual, giving rational 
assent; it is sentimental, rejoicing in assent; it " works by 
love," yielding a person to a Person, one person being myself, 
the other, Jesus Christ. / believe in him. 

This faith which has been just described, when directed to 
Jesus Christ, whose person and work were briefly described 
a little while ago, is the ground of justification. Any sinner 
may stand on this ground. The moment he steps on it, he is 
a justified man. God looks on him as an innocent man ; his 
sins are forgiven, and his life is hid with Christ in God. All 
sinners, great and small, are invited and encouraged and 
urged to exercise this trust. The most hardened sinner, the 
most atrocious, the most heaven-daring and God-defying, has 
but to exercise this trust, and all is done that needs to be 



Justification by Faith. 103 

done. Eo instanti — that very moment, judgment in his 
favor goes to the record in the Book of Life. Jesus Christ 
makes no exceptions, and no one else has the right to mal^e 
any, and I will make none. " AVhosoever believeth." I 
shall not amend the record by striking out the word whoso- 
ever, and inserting another of smaller scope. " He that 
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life"; not shall have, 
but hath. It is a thing of the present moment. People 
imagine that salvation consists in going to heaven; salvation 
begins the moment we are justified ; and we are justified the 
moment we believe. It is not proper to say that the saints 
will be saved ; the saints are already saved. 

Look now for a moment at the law. ''Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength ; . . . and 
. . . thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Do this and 
live. Turn we now to the gospel. " Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ." Do this and live. Which of these two 
things is it easier to do? The first is impossible. So there 
is only one thing that we can do. The choice is not between 
this and something else ; the choice is between this and 
nothing. Now if a man cannot do the one, and will not 
do the other, he does neither; he violates both law and 
gospel. He does not obey ; he will not accept the obedience 
of another which God offers to regard as if it were his own. 
No Avonder the Apostle Peter exclaimed : "' What shall the 
end be of them that obey not the gospel of God ? " 1 Peter 
iv. 17. Having disregarded his law, they now spurn his in- 
vitations; needing forgiveness, they refuse to accept it. 
What ought their end to be ? 

Various objections are raised to the doctrine of justifica- 
tion by faith, as indeed to all other doctrines that are true. 
Whether or not I can answer these objections is immaterial ; 
for the thing that has been said is true, whether the ob- 



104 The Old Theology. 

jections to it are answered or not. But some of these 
may be for a moment noticed. 

It may be said that the doctrine tends to licentiousness ; 
for if a man is taught that he may be saved without the 
deeds of the law, he will not practice them ; he will live as 
he lists, and comfort himself with the hope of pardon on the 
ground that he believes on Jesus. I have to reply, that a 
world-wide experience teaches just the reverse of this. The 
believers in Jesus Christ are the very best men we have. 
The world has never produced their peers. In reverence for 
God, in obedience to his law, in consecration to his service, in 
deeds of self-sacrificing benevolence, they are so far superior 
to any other class of men, that no comparison can be in- 
stituted. If those who raise this objection are willing to 
judge of a tree by its fruits, let them place those who do 
not accept the doctrine, beside those who do ; and one glance 
at that spectacle will answer their objection. 

Another objection to the doctrine may be that it excludes 
all manner of good works; it excludes repentance; it excludes 
hatred of sin; it excludes the love of God; it excludes 
prayer; in short, it excludes everything in which there is 
any merit ; and a doctrine which excludes everything that is 
good, must be false. It is true that the doctrine does exclude 
all these things ; but what does it exclude them from ? It 
excludes them from being the ground of our justification. 
Ought they not to be excluded ? Has any one of them any 
justifying power? Have we discharged any duty in such 
perfection that it can be urged as a reason for our justifica- 
tion? Are we capable of any such perfection in duty? The 
more thcwoughly our works are excluded, the better. If any 
one of them w-re admitted, our hopes would all be spoiled. 
When we stand before our righteous Judge, let us be glad 
that our record does not appear. Duty is taught in the law ; 
but this gospel is to teach how our shortcomings in regard to 



Justification by Faith. 105 

that law may be remedied. There is no remedy in anything 
that we can do. The only remedy is in w-:at Christ has 
done. 

Still another objection to the doctrine of justification by 
faith is, that it makes the law void, and of none eifect ; that 
is, that if God justifies men without reference to their obedi- 
ence to his law, it shows that he has no respect for his law, 
and that he allows it to be violated with impunity. Our 
brother Paul replies to this objection, by saying that, so far 
from making the law void, we establish it. " Do we then 
make void the law through faith? God forbid! Yea, we 
establish the law." (E,om. iii. 31.) If God were to justify us 
on the ground of such obedience as we can render, that would 
be making the law void indeed ; for it would be accepting as 
satisfactory that which is known to be worthless. But in 
justification by faith in the Son of God, the law is honored, 
for its holiness is acknowledged. That law requires perfec- 
tion, and can be satisfied with nothino- less. God recognizes 
our absolute inability to render such service, and permits us 
to offer in place thereof the righteousness of Christ, which is 
all that the law demands. With joy accepting this amazing 
offer, we sing: 

I have no refuge of my own, 
But fly to what my Lord hath done, 
And suffered once for me. 

Slain in the guilty sinner's stead, 
His spotless righteousness I plead. 

And his a . ailing blood. 
That righteousness my robe shall be, 
That merit shall atone for me. 

And bring me near to God. 

Who does the most honor to the law ; the man who offers to 
satisfy it with his own works, wretched as they are, thus 
bringing it to a level with them ? or the man who, confessing 



106 The Old Theology. 

his infinite failure, hides behind the righteousness of Christ, 

exclaiming : 

Rock of Ages ! clett for me, 
Let me hide myself in thee ! 
Should my tears forever flow, 
, Should my zeal no languor know, 

All for sin could not atone ; 
Thou must save, and thou alone. 

A few remarks of a general nature will close the dis- 
cussion of this subject. 

1. There are those who seem to be devout people who, 
nevertheless, strange as it may seem, opjDose this doctrine. 
It is to be observed that their opposition is found in their 
preaching, in their conversation, and in thdr writings, but 
never in their prayers. Their hearts are more orthodox than 
their heads. The experience of all Christian hearts is the 
same. When men stand up erect, with their heads aloft, 
they indulge in man-made theories ; but when they come to 
their knees, and bow down before God, they cry with one 
voice : " Unclean ! unclean, all over ! Not unto us, O Lord, 
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, 
and for thy truth's sake ! " 

It is remarkable too, that very little of their doctrine 
appears in their hymns. It is not in accord with the genius 
of song. The spirit of poetry abhors it. It is refractory 
under the laws of rhythm. It cannot be set to music, and 
consequently cannot be sung. It is as discordant with the 
melody of the ear as it is with that of the heart. It destroys 
the harmony of sweet sounds. A hymn that would con- 
tradict the doctrine of "Rock of Ages, cleft for me!" or 
" Jesus, lover of my soul ! " or " How firm a foundation, ye 
saints of the Lord ! " and other immortal lyrics of like char- 
acter, would be doomed to early death, and deserved death. 
A doctrine which cannot be prayed, and cannot be sung, but 
can only be talked about, is not worth talking about. It fails 



Justification by Faith. 107 

in two-thirds of the branches of Christian worship, and is good 
for nothing in the other third. But when we sing — 

My hope is built on nothing less 
Thau Jesus' blood and righteousness, 

every Christian heart leaps up, and throbs a deep "Amen ! " 
2, The doctrine of justification by faith is peculiarly dis- 
agreeable to human nature. One would suppose that men 
would seize with eagerness on a doctrine which is so satisfying 
and which makes peace with God so easy of attainment ! 
But such is the perversity of depraved hearts that they turn 
away from safety. The doctrine is subversive of human 
pride, and excludes all shadow of boasting. The human 
heart clings to its own works. This doctrine shows that, if a 
man is saved at all, he is saved without works, and this is the 
very last point that the un regenerate heart will ever give up ; 
indeed, even some of God's elect seem, in their conversation, 
but never in their prayers, to cling to it. 

There may be some here who are convicted of sin, and 
who now experience great spiritual distress. It may be that 
their difficulty lies right here. They are not ready to 
acknowledge themselves totally helpless, and utterly unable 
to do anything for themselves. They cannot say from their 

very hearts: 

Other refuge have I none ; 
Hangs my helpless soul on thee ! 

They anxiously inquire, " What must I do f What must 
I do f " There is nothing to be done. That which had to be 
done was done eighteen hundred years ago, and nothing more 
is needed. I will repeat some Avords, and if you can adopt 
them as the language of your heart, you may feel safe ; and 
these are the words : " Lord, if I am saved it will be of thy 
grace, through what Christ has done for me, and not for 
what I have done for myself; my salvation is not because I 



108 The Old Theology. 

have repented, and wept, and prayed, and forsaken my sin, 
but because Christ died. On hira, O my God, I rely, on him 
I rely with confidence and with joy; and I thank thee for 
thy unspeakable gift." 

Is this the real sentiment of your soul ? Then I congratu- 
late you, my brother, and I have no hesitation in assuring you 
that, sinful man as you are, you stand justified before God. 
Think you not that this is the sentiment of the saints in 
heaven ? Then why should it not be theirs on earth ? Oh ! 
if ever you should be taken to that happy place, you will not 
say that your poor works have brought you there. No ! you 
will not introduce such discord into the anthems of the blest. 
You will not so falsify the consciousness of your own soul. 
You will repudiate yourself and exalt your Saviour. You will 
not look down to the wretched doings of earth, but will look up 
to the great mountain of God's holiness, and to the head-stone 
thereof, and will unite with the blood-washed throng, in 
shoutings of " Grace, grace unto it." 

3. The doctrine of justification by faith is peculiar to the 
gospel of Christ, and distinguishes it from every other system 
of religion. No man ever would or could have thought of 
such a thing. It came from heaven, and to heaven, its native 
place, it will conduct us. 

4. Those who oppose this doctrine are in bad company. 
Popery is a system of works, and so is Judaism, and Mo- 
hammedanism, and Deism, and all the forms of Paganism ; 
and at the last day those who, with brazen face and confident 
tone, put forward their works, saying, " Lord, when saw we 
thee a hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, 
or in prison, and did not minister unto thee ? " thus reciting 
the catalogue of their good deeds, " shall go away into ever- 
lasting punishment." Oh ! in that day may we be of those 
who, surprised at the mention of anything good in them, will 
trembhngly inquire : " Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, 
and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?" thus repudi- 



Justification by Faith. 109 

ating self; for these are they whom God calls " the right- 
eous " ; and these shall go into " life eternal." 

5. The doctrine of justification by faith is a safe doctrine. 
If it be an error, it is not a fatal error. For if we are to be 
saved by works, the good deeds of those who believe this 
doctrine will be as acceptable in heaven as those of its op- 
ponents. But a doctrine opposite to this is not safe. If it be 
wrong, it is fatally so. If it be wrong, its advocates cannot 
be saved by works; and having repudiated justification by 
faith, they cannot be saved by that; and hence cannot be 
saved at all. To us who believe in justification by faith 
there is the same opportunity for salvation by works that 
there is for others ; but should that fail, as we know it will, 
then we can fall back, as we do, on the Rock of Ages. 

Let all saints, therefore, rely with joyous confidence on the 
blood of the atonement; for "being justified by faith, we 
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

To all sinful men who are trying to make themselves 
better, in order that they may become Christians, and who 
are trying to satisfy their consciences by a pure and godly 
life, my counsel is this : Dorit try any more I Abandon 
the hopeless enterprise. Admit that you are ruined, and that 
you are helpless. Admit that it is impossible for you ever to 
be justified in the sight of God, or even in your own, on the 
ground of your conformity to God's holy law. Surely this 
is easy to admit. Let your faith seize with a death-grip on 
the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the 
Saviour of men ! Lay hold, and lay hold for life, on the 
promise : " Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast 
out." Wait not to fit yourself to come to him, for you will 
never be fit, and — 

All the fitness he requireth 
Is to feel your need of him. 

Come to Jesus ; come saying in your heart : 

K 



110 The Old Theology. 

Just as lam, without one plea, 
But that thy blood was shed for me, 
And that thou bid'st me come to thee, 
O Lamb of God ! I come. 

Just as I am, and waiting not 
To cleanse my soul of one dark blot. 
To thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, 
O Lamb of God ! I come. 

Come now! Trust in Christ now. And I say to you 
fearlessly, knowing that what I say will be put on my 
record, and that I must face that record at the last day, I 
say to you boldly : 

" BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND THOU SHALT 

BE SAVED." 

^^ The following Scriptures confirm the doctrine of the 
discourse. 

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life.— John iii. 16. 

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that be- 
lieveth not is condemned already, because be hath not believed in the 
name of the only-begotten Son of God.— John iii. 18. 

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life : and he that 
believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth 
on him.— John iii. 36. 

This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth 
the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life.— John vi. 40. 

I am the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth on me, 
though he were dead, yet shall he live.— John xi. 25. 

These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, 
the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life throngh his 
name.— John xx. 31. 

By him all that believe are justified from all things, from which 
ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.— Acts xiii. 39. 

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.— 
Acts xvi. 31. 



Justification by Faith. Ill 

By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his 
sight.— Rom. iri. 20. 

Tiie righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto 
all and upon all them that believe ; for tliere'is no difference : for all 
have sinned, and come sliort of the glory of God. — Rom. iii. 22, 23. 

For the promise . . . was not to Abraham through the law, but 
througli the righteousness of faith.— Rom. iv. 13, 

Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God 
througli our Lord Jesus Christ.— Rom. v. 1. 

Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not 
attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore ? Because they 
sought it not by faith, but, as it were, by the works of the law. For 
they stumbled at that stumbling-stone. — Rom. ix. 31, 32. 

A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith 
of Jesus Christ ; . . . . for by the works of the law shall no flesh be 
justified.— Gal. ii. 16. 

As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse : for 
it is written. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things 
which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no 
man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident ; for the 
just shall live by faith.— Gal. iii. 10, 11. 

By grace are ye saved through faith, . . . not of works, lest any 
man should boast.— Eph. ii. 8. 

All these passages, and many others that might be quoted, 
teach the same doctrine that is taught by the text of the 
preceding discourse : "A man is justified by faith without the 
deeds of the law." — Rom. iii. 28. 



SERMON VII. 

THE MOTIVE POWER. 

"The love of Christ coiistraineth us."— 2 Corinthians v. 14. 

THE reference here may be either to the love which Christ 
bears to his people, or to the love which they bear to 
him. Without venturing to decide this point, I shall 
assume that the love which is spoken of is that which burns 
in the bosoms of the saints towards their Saviour and their 
God. The sentiment of the text, as thus interpreted, is not 
only true, but Scriptural; and whether these words were 
used on this occasion by the apostle, with the intention of 
expressing this sentiment or not, it is certain that they do 
express it, and I feel at liberty so to construe them ; and 
I feel the more free to do this, because, in my own opinion, 
this is the proper construction. 

It has often been declared that the discharge of duty is 
not the ground of our justification ; and that any attempt to 
set ourselves right before God by a life of piety, is in vain. 
The most holy life that we could lead would come short of 
what is required, and that is all that could be said of the 
most wicked life that is possible. The good and the bad 
among us stand on the same footing, as to the point in ques- 
tion, and if any are justified, it must be on some principle 
which is equally applicable to all. Any man, without refer- 
ence to his past life, and no matter how wicked it may have 
been, who will exercise faith in Jesus Christ, will be justified 
by Almighty God ; and if justified, then saved and glorified. 

But if one is not justified by good works, neither is he saved 
112 



The Motive Power. 113 

by them. The justification and salvation of men are wholly 
apart from their d eds, whether good or bad. Faith is all. 
Nothing more is needed ; nothing else will suffice. This is 
the doctrine everywhere taught in the Scriptures. " He that 
believeth on him is not condemned : but he that believeth 
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in 
the name of the only begotton Son of God." With faith you 
are safe ; without it you are lost. 

Notwithstanding all this, the law which requires obedience 
is not suspended. It is as much our duty to do and to be all 
that the Jaw requires, as if our salvation depended on this 
discharge of duty. It is our duty to repent of sin, and so to 
repent as to abandon it; it is our duty to love God su- 
premely, and also to love our neighbor as ourselves. To 
glorify God, in all that we do or say or think or feel or are, 
is enjoined on every one of us. To do good to all ; and if 
need be, to suffer for others ; and if necessity requires, even 
to die for others, — is duty. 

But if justification and salvation are wholly of grace, and 
wholly irrespective of duty, where is the incentive to righteous 
living? Of what use is it to lead a life of obedience, if 
grace saves us through faith, without obedience ? And is it 
not a waste of breath to urge men to duty when all motive to 
duty is taken away? Is not the doctrine of justification by 
faith a stumbling-block? For, although it be accompanied 
by exhortations to a godly and benevolent and consecrated 
life, of what avail are the exhortations when no incentives 
and no inducements are offered ? Men never act without 
motive ; this doctrine takes away the motive, and yet expects 
men to act ! 

In reply to all this, I have to say that whatever the seem- 
ing may be, facts show that all motive is not taken away ; 
na^'', that some of the most powerful motives that can possibly 
affect a moral being are left. We find a most notable ex- 

K2 



114 The Old Theology. 

ample in the case of our brother Paul. The doctrine of 
justification by faith is the burden of all his discourses ; he 
seems to have considered it his special mission to promulgate it. 
Yet his life was full of good works ; no man's was ever more 
so. In labors he was abundant ; in stripes above measure ; 
in prisons frequent ; in deaths oft ; of the Jews five times re- 
ceived he forty stripes save one. In journeyings often ; in 
perils of waters ; in perils of robbers ; in perils by his own 
countrymen ; in perils by the heathen ; in perils in the city ; 
in perils in the wilderness ; in perils in tne sea ; in perils 
among false brethren ; in weariness, in painfulness, in watch- 
ings often ; in hunger and thirst; in fastings often ; in cold 
and nakedness. And besides those things that were without, 
he had the care of all the churches. Ar\d yet when he 
speaks of all this he says : " I take pleasure in infirmities, in 
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses." 
Now it is true that men never act without motive ; yet Paul, 
the great preacher of the doctrine of justification by faith, 
did all this, and he did it cheerfully, and therefore there 
must have been a motive ; and not only so, but a motive of 
prodigious power — a motive which was more than a match 
for all the tremendous forces which he had to combat. So 
those who think that his doctrine takes away all incentive to 
action must be mistaken. Judging by his life, one would 
infer that he had discovered some new motive, holding in 
spiritual dynamics a position similar to that of dynamite or 
electricity in physical forces. Up to his day, no man had 
ever led such a life, of such magnificent energy, and of such 
sublime self-sacrifice ; and up to his day, no man had ever 
declared the doctrine of justification by faith with such clear- 
ness and force and cogency and persistency and enthusiasm. 
He is the embodiment of two extremes. He is the extreme 
advocate of justification by faith without the deeds of the 
law, and at the same time the most extreme example of con- 



The Motive Power. 115 

secrated life known to the Sacred Scriptures. The inference 
would seem to be that the more devoted a man is to the 
doctrine, the more abundant he will be in good works. It 
may be said that this is an isolated case. Thousands of 
cases, not so striking, it is true, but of the same general 
character, might be adduced. Our missionaries to the 
heathen go to the other side of the w^orld for the express 
purpose of preaching this very doctrine, and they are the 
very men who make more sacrifice than anybody else. Even 
among ourselves, the most ardent believers are the most 
zealous workers ; so much so that it has come to be a proverb, 
that he who abounds in works is strong in the faith ; and the 
sentiment is just as common, that a man who has no. works 
to show, has no right to speak of his faith ; either one is 
always taken as the measure of the other. 

We have spent time enough in showing that the doctrine 
of justification by faith does not deprive men of motive; and 
in doing this we have seen that it seems to supply some new 
motive, unknown to men before, and stronger than any 
other of which we have any knowledge. It is time to inquire 
what is that motive? The text, with the construction that I 
have put on it, answers this question. " The love of Christ 
constraineth us." It is a new motive. Without the knowl- 
edge of Christ, the love of him could not exist ; and until he 
was revealed, there was no such motive on earth. Nothing 
can develop its power but himself. If the force be in human 
nature, it is latent, and is as though it were not ; but the 
moment that the soul lays hold by faith on Jesus Christ, that 
moment the dormant energy is roused and springs into 
action, and thenceforth becomes the ruling motive of life. 
From nothingness it leaps into supremacy. The world never 
saw its like until Christ came. An evidence of his divine 
nature it is, that he has arot5sed a moral force which all 
other forces combined cannot resist. True, the law places us 



116 The Old Theology. 

under supreme obligations to love ; but while the law com- 
mands love, it is the gospel of Christ that inspires it. 

If Christ has died to redeem us, and if we can stand 
justified before the holy God by his merits and his blood, 
simply by faith in him, surely our obligations to him are 
supremely great, transcending immeasurably all other obli- 
gations of which we can conceive. The motive which 
prompts us to meet these obligations ought to be the strongest 
and the noblest. Nothing less than this would be either 
adequate or appropriate. 

One of the great motives of life is the hope of reward. 
We all feel its force, and on certain occasions it is a proper 
motive. But it is not always so. When one has done me 
some great favor, a favor so great that no language can 
express it, shall I afterwards render him a service only 
because I expect him to reward me for it? I am already 
rewarded, rewarded in advance, ten thousand times over, for 
all that I can possibly do. Suppose he has saved me from 
an overwhelming grief; and suppose he has done this by 
taking the grief and the agony on himself; shall I after- 
wards discharge a duty to him only because I expect him to 
pay me for it? We shudder away from the thought with 
horror and disgust. Christ has saved us from the pains of 
hell, from the terrors of the law, from the wrath of God ; 
and he did it by sacrificing himself; he took our load on 
him, and bare our sins in his own body on the tree. Shall 
we obey his law, which we were under supreme obligations 
to obey before he came or died, simply because we hope to be 
rewarded for the discharge of this duty ? No, no ! In his 
service there is nothing mercenary. His saints lose sight ot 
self, and see naught but him. For Christ's sake, not for my 
own, let me serve him. For his pleasure, for his glory, let 
me do and be and suffer whatever may be required of me. 
Men sometimes serve each other for pay, as it is right 



The Motive Power. 117 

isometimes that they should ; but at other times they are 
actuated by motives at once stronger and nobler. Base as 
human nature is, men will do less for pay than they will for 
love. For the love of country a man will face a storm of 
bullets and the cannon's mouth, belching fire and iron, when 
all the gold in the whole world would not induce him to 
stand in that place for one moment. A man will rescue his 
brother from a tiger's jaws for love, but not for pay. The 
mother does not nurse her babe for pay. At the expense of 
exquisite pain to herself, she will give nourishment to the 
little one, because she loves it ; but she could not be hired to 
do it. Nor does she do it because she hopes for reward in 
the future career of her offspring. Not so ; she would do the 
same thing if she knew that the babe would die the next 
day. There is a stronger force in the human heart than the 
hope of anything, on earth or in heaven. After all, self is 
not the god of this world. Depraved as we are, the unselfish 
motives are the strongest. Surely they are the purest and 
the noblest ; and least like the things of earth, and most like 
the tilings of heaven. Surely the Lord of Glory, the Second 
Person of the adorable Trinity, who took on him the form 
of man, and assumed our whole nature that Jesus the Christ 
might suffer in our stead and redeem us from the curse of 
the law, ought to be served from the highest motives of 
which w? : re capable. The hope of reward is not one of 
these. Shall we obey the law merely with an eye to the 
profit that is to be made ? Never, never ! Let our souls rise 
above the groveling impulse, higher than eagle ever flew, 
higher than the atmosphere of earth reaches, and leaving it 
out of sight and breathing the air of the heavenly hills, let 
us exclaim : " The love of Christ constraineth us." 

Another great motive of human conduct is fear — the fear 
of punishment, or of penalty, or of some kind of injury. It 
is sometimes a proper motive. When exercised on suitable 



118 The Old Theology. 

occasions, there is nothing in it dishonorable or unmanly. 
The man who when exposed to great danger is not afraid, is 
simply a fool. The man who does not avoid danger, when 
he can do so with propriety, is regarded as of unsound mind ; 
and we observe that all men do use precaution to shelter 
themselves from harm. But it is very far from being one of 
the strongest motives ; I may almost say that it is one of the 
weakest. It will not restrain a burglar from risking his life 
for the sake of opening an iron chest, in which there may be 
nothing of A;alue. It will not restrain even the curiosity of a 
traveler, who wishes to look into the crater of a volcano. 
When it comes to measure strength with benevolence, which 
is but a form of love, its power disappears entirely. More 
than once has a brave, lion-hearted fireman rushed through 
the flames of a blazing building, whose floors were sinking 
under his weight, and amid falling timbers, to rescue a child 
in its cradle — and, the child not his! And as with his clothes 
falling from him in burning flakes, and as with grimy and 
scorched face, and bleeding hands, he delivered his prize to 
its mother, the shouts of the multitude rent the very heavens 
— the tribute of a thousand hearts to the love which con- 
quered fear and fire ! Here again we see that the selfish 
passions are as nothing when the unselfish summon up their 
powers. Fear is selfish ; but love annihilates it. Well did 
the Apostle John say : " Perfect love casteth out fear." The 
Christ of God ought to be served from our strongest motives ; 
but fear is not one of them ; on the contrary, it is so feeble a 
motive that it stands in the way of no strong desire. 

I have said that fear is an honorable motive ; and so at 
times it is ; but at other times, it is disgraceful. The man 
who allows his fears to prevent his discharge of duty, is a 
coward — a coward, that despicable thing which more than 
any other excites the contempt of all high-minded men — and 
women — and children. When we see a man do a thing from 



The Motive Power. 119 

fear, which ought to be done from a nobler motive, we are 
ashamed that he is one of our species. 

Suppose a man has rendered me a great service, of more 
value to me than life itself, or than a thousand lives, if such 
a thing Were possible, and afterwards he desires a small ser- 
vice from me. I refuse to do it, until he threatens me ; and 
then fearing that the weight of his hand may fall on my 
worthless person, I sneak away like a poltroon and do it! 
Is it possible to describe in human language anything so 
ignominious ! 

" It is Christ that died ; yea, rather, that is risen again, 
who is even at the right baud of God, who also maketh inter- 
cession for us." With Gethsemane and Calvary before our 
eyes, and knowing that the very same hands that were nailed 
to the cross are stretched out in intercession for us, shall we 
keep his law (which it was our duty to obey even if he had 
not died) from no higher motive than fear? . Our obligations 
to God are supreme, without reference to Christ ; we are sub- 
ject to his law, inexorable and holy ; and now since Christ 
has died to redeem us from its curse, our obligations are in- 
creased and intensified tenfold, ten thousand fold. Shall we 
meet these obligations, which ought to be met from the purest 
and most exalted impulses of our nature, only like trembling 
slaves, from fear of the lash ? Those who would be whipped 
into the service can never be in the service. If a man has 
no heart for the work, his work is worthless. But if the love 
of Christ constraineth him, then he renders the noblest tribute 
in his power ; then he has exhausted his resources. Would 
anything less than this be sufficient? Human excellence 
and huujan kindness excite our love. Shall Christ, who is 
the embodiment of infinite excellence, and of kindness sur- 
passing our conceptions, be put off* with that which is inferior 
to what we afford to each other ? No. Let us not serve him 
from motives which are but second-best. Anvthino^ less than 



120 The Old Theology. 

the very best is but an insult to Infinite Loveliness, and In- 
finite Majesty. 

But are not both fear and hope appealed to in the Sacred 
Scriptures ? Yes : fear, that we may be warned to flee from 
the wrath to come ; hope, that we may be led to accept the 
great salvation. But when one has embraced Christ, and 
taken him into his heart, and especially if he " can read his 
title clear to mansions in the skies," fear and hope cease to 
be the conscious motive of his actions. A stronger and 
superseding power comes in, and so overrides them that they 
drop out of notice. These motives would control him, if 
there were not a better ; but when one is conscious that these 
are operative in any controlling sense, it is a sign that his 
love is failing. If these are helpers of the greater power, it 
is as the inappreciable strength of a man's arm helping the 
piston-stroke of a huge engine. Hope as an enjoyment, and 
fear as a filial aflTection are for the saints ; but hope and fear 
as springs of action are for the unconverted. The stars hold 
their places in the heavens to keep the universe in balance, 
and they shine by day as well as by night; but when the sun 
rises, their illuminating power is lost. Hope and fear hold 
their places, but they are in abeyance ; the stronger power, 
the more glorious power, absorbs their functions. 

The doctrine of justification by faith is objected to, on the 
ground that it deprives us of motive for holy living and for 
good works. A blessed thing it is that the objection is raised ; 
for its discussion enables us to show that it does indeed leave 
us without such motives as are selfish, and unworthy of occa- 
sion so grand and so glorious ; it spurns away the greed of the 
hireling and the meanness of the coward ; it rises above all 
motives but the best; it singles out one — one to which the 
whole universe pays homage; one whose purity is angelic, 
Godlike ; whose dignity is peerless ; whose power transcends 
all other powers combined ; and this one it claims for its own. 



The Motive Power. 121 

It is the only doctrine that makes such a claim; it is but just 
that the grandest of doctrines should make the grandest of 
claims. The objection to the doctrine instead of overthrow- 
ing it, only brings out its sublimity, and establishes its truth. 
Christ should have the best, and nothing but the best; this 
doctrine claims it for him, and concedes it to him ; the oppo- 
site doctrine either deprives him of the best ; or if not, it 
mingles baser motives with the best, and this taints and 
poisons the whole. It is the only doctrine that renders Christ 
his due, and therefore the only one that is true ; and the 
doctrine of the objector to this would incite us to the service 
of our Lord from motives unworthy of him or of us; and 
being thus tied to low motives it is dragged to the depths 
itself, and lies low with other errors. There let it lie. It 
makes slaves of Christ's lovers, and hirelings of his wor- 
shipers. 

The great difference between a man who is regenerate and 
one who is not, is in the motive of their actions. Two men 
may be in action exactly alike ; and yet one may be accepted 
of God, and the other not. Why is it when the two lives are 
precisely the same, virtue for virtue, measure for measure, 
that one should be beloved of the Lord and welcomed to 
everlasting joy, while the other is abhorred and doomed to 
endless death ? There is nothing strange in it ; it is just as it 
should be. The motives may be radically different ; and 
while human judgment begins with the overt act, and argues 
back to the motive, God reverses the process, and beginning 
with the motive traces it through the outward act ; and if the 
motive be bad, it vitiates all that flows from it. A clean 
thing cannot come out of an unclean. 

One man does what is right, in order that he may be 
saved ; the other does what is right, because he is saved. 
There is a W'Orld-wide difference between the two, even 
though outwardly one is the exact counterpart of the other. 

L 



122 The Old Theology. 

One is trying to purchase his way into the pearly gates, as if 
by such wretched doings as he is capable of, he could bring 
his Maker in debt to him, and thus enter into the heavenly 
city as matter of right. And what makes the matter worse 
is that, in offering his own righteousness, which is imperfect, 
he is rejecting that of Jesus Christ, which is perfect and 
which God has promised to accept ; and what is more, instead 
of going in the way that God has marked out for him, he 
marks out a course for himself, preferring his judgment to 
that of infinite wisdom ; and all this is done, not from love 
to God, and not to glorify God, but from love of self and to 
glorify self; and above all he is an unbeliever ; he has no 
faith in Jesus Christ; and "he that believeth not the Son 
shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him." 

The other man begins by repudiating all that the man 
just described regards as valuable. He has no price to offer 
for an admission ticket; his righteousness he knows to be 
but rags, and filthy rags ; he would not offer it to the 
Almighty ; he knows that he is eternally bankrupt, and 
that he can neither pay, nor do anything that is of value ; 
he knows that if he is ever justified, it will not be by virtue 
of anything that there is in him ; he knows that he has 
violated God's most holy law, and that it is a part of his 
nature to keep on violating it ; and that he never can extri- 
cate himself from this depraved and lost condition ; and he 
has nothing to say why sentence of death should not be pro- 
nounced upon him. Nothing — that is nothing springing 
from self, or from earth. But he has a reason, and a good 
one, a reason that God himself has supplied him with. The 
reason is this : " ' It is Christ that died,' and I trust in him ; 
I accept him as my Saviour, and him only ; I have no hope 
except in him ; I reject any salvation which does not come 
through him; and I know thattrust in him insures eternal 
life." 



The Motive Power. 123 

That man is justified before God ; and being justified by- 
faith, he has peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
throuo-h whom he has now received the atonement, with all 
its benefits and blessings. 

Now he dedicates his life to God, not that he may be 
saved; for his salvation has come already, and in another 
way. Now the noblest motive that ever stirred the depths 
of a human soul springs into life. The love of Christ con- 
strains him ; and henceforth this is the ruling principle of 
his life. 

See then the difference between two men, who are out- 
wardly exactly alike. See, too, the justice which receives 
one to eternal life, and consigns the other to eternal death. 
"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and 
he that believeth not the Son shall not see life ; but the 
wrath of God abideth on him." 

It is common, too, for those who are trying to be good, in 
order that they may be saved, to ask whether this thing or 
that thing is essential to salvation ; for if they can ascertain 
that it is not essential, they will give themselves no concern 
about it, and will neglect it, no matter how pleasing it may 
be to the God that made them, and to the Saviour that died 
for them. It is a common thing for them to say : " If the 
matter is not essential, what is the use of even thinking 
about it ? " The love of God is not in them ; for if it were, 
the question would be, not " What micst I do ? " but " What 
may I do?" Their inquiry is: "How little can I do, and 
yet be saved,'*' as if they would drive a close bargain with 
their Maker, and purchase his favor at the lowest possible 
price, reserving for themselves as much as they can, to con- 
sume it on their lusts. 

The man who can say with hearty emphasis and with 
strong enthusiasm : " The love of Christ constraineth me," 
is lifted infinitely above the plane of him who asks: "How 



124 The Old Theology. 

little can I do and yet be saved ? " and, breathing the pure 
air of lofty heights, his earnest inquiry is : " How much can 
I do, because I am saved, in honor of him who has saved 
me?" He has no words to throw away about essentials 
and non-essentials, for between these things there is no dif- 
ference with him; and if there were, he would not stop to 
examine it; his heart is filled with glowing love, and his 
eager inquiry is, " What can I do to please my Saviour ? 
What can I do to glorify my God ? " 

This is the spirit that marks the Christian. The love of 
Christ constrains him. This motive is akin to that which 
prompted the sending of Christ into the world. Love sent 
him ; love serves him. The fire is caught from heaven, and 
kindles a kindred flame in human hearts. God loves his 
Son ; and we love his Son ; and his afiections and ours, meet- 
ing in a common centre, bring us close together in life, and 
will take us to his very bosom in death. The heavenly hosts 
serve God from love. With them there are no rewards, nor 
punishments, nor hopes, nor fears. There is but one law 
in heaven, and that is the law of love. And in the kingdom 
of heaven on earth of which the saints are subjects, and 
whose salvation is as secure as that of those enthroned in 
glory, the same law pervades every soul, and with one 
acclaim they love to say : 

"the love of CHRIST CONSTEAINETH US." 

^^jj. When this sermon was delivered, the preacher thought 
it best not to raise difficulties which would not be likely to 
occur to the minds of his hearers ; but now that it goes to the 
record, it is thought proper to append the following remarks : 

There is an ambiguity in our use of the wor.l fear which some- 
times leads to confusion of thought, tliougli in general, tbe sense is 
well understood. Fear sometim.^s means that wliieh is to be despised, 



The Motive Power. 125 

and sometimes that which is to be honored ; and the subject matter 
spoken of generally indicates the sense in which the word is to be 
understood. "The fear of tue Lord" is often spoken of as embody- 
ing the wliole of Christian duty ; yet no one supposes that Adam 
was in a gracious state when lie said, " 1 heard thy voice in the 
garden, and I was afraid."^ Tlie "fear of the Lord" whicli is com- 
mended is reverence and awe, mingled witli love ; the fear of the 
wicked, such as Adam experienced, and such as will prompt them in 
the last day to call on the mountains and the rocks to fall on them, 
and hide them from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and 
from the wrath of the Lamb, is terror and dismay unmixed with love. 
It is to be regretted that the same word is used to designate things so 
wholly unlike, so wholly at opposites. The prophet declares that 
" The fear of the Lord is the heginning of wisdom." (Prov. ix. 10.) 
Yet one apostle says, " Ye have not received the spirit of bondage 
again to fear." (Rom. viii. 15.) Again, the Apostle Peter says, "He 
that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." 
(Acts X. 35.) Yet the Apostle John says, "There is no fear in love ; 
biit perfect love casteth out fear ; because fear hath torment. He that 
feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John i v. 18.) In words, 
there is a palpable contradiction in these vlarious passages ; in mean- 
ing there is none, for two different things are spoken of, though the 
same name is applied to both. We are commanded to '• Fear God and 
keep his commandments : for this is the whole duty of man" (Eccl. 
xii. 13), yet our Lord teaches, that to love God supremely, and our 
neighbor as ourselves, is the whole duty of man. Evidently the words 
fear and love are used in these passages as if th^^y were synonymous. 
In our speech, the imperfection of language embarrasses us, but there 
is no conflict of facts ; filial fear, which is only another name for pro- 
found and loving reverence, is duty ; the fear of the wicked, which is 
only another name for uiifilial dread, is part of the "torment" due to 
their guilt. It is needless to s.iy that, in the denunciations of the pre- 
ceding discourse, reference is had to the fear which might perhaps 
be describ 'd by the word afraidness, if there were such a word, and 
not to that devout and heart-felt homage, which is the "beginning," 
or as a different and perhaps better rendering would give it, the 
principal part, "of wisdom." Nothing more needs to be said in ex- 
planation of the preceding sermon ; but it may not be amiss to add, 
that the word fear is used to describe what is merely matter of 
prudence, as when one will not expose himself to unnecessary 
danger; and also to describe an emotional instinct, which is common 
to men and the lower animals ; and also to describe mere solicitude, 
perhaps for another, as when one says, "I fear you are not well to- 

l3 



126 The Old Theology. 

day"; and also to describe sheer cowardice, as when one is unwilling; 
to take risks that he ouiht to take. It is unfortunate tliat one word 
has to do duty in so many different ways ; and certainly our language 
would be greatly enriched, and our thinking would often be much 
more clear, if we had a different name for each of the things, so dif- 
ferent from each other, which are above referred to. 

We are also troubled somewhat with the ambiguity of the word 
hope. As the word is ordinarily used, it implies a combination of 
expectation, desire, and doubt. That which is known is not hoped 
for; "for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?" What is 
called hope in Christian experience, wiien directed toward God, is 
expectation and desire, without doubt. When the Psalmist says, 
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted 
in me? Hope thou in God!" he adds, with undoubting and 
joyous assurance, "For I shall yet praise him for the help of his 
countenance." (Ps. xlii. 5.) But when the hope of the saint is 
directed towards himself, the element of doubt enters ; not because he 
doubts God, but because he doubts the genuineness of his own faith. 
He hopes for heaven with doubt ; not because he doubts its reality, 
nor because he doubts God's determination to save his elect; but 
because he doubts his own heart. He hopes for answer to prayer, 
not because he thinks that God is slack concerning his promises, but 
because he knows that his own faith is weak. He has 'respect to the 
recompense of the reward," hoping for an entrance into the kingdom 
and enjoying its anticipations, knowing that even the gift of a cup 
of cold water will not be forgotten ; but does he evv r give such a cup 
because he expects to get his pay? Are there no Samaritans to help 
the wounded wayfarer without hope of reward? Is there nothing 
unselfish? And if any is to be served from unselfish motives, should 
not Christ be so served ? The song of praise will be rewarded ; but is 
that the reason why it is sung? Is it not rather the out^ush of the 
soul towards God ? A heroic missionary takes the gospel to canni- 
bals, or some other great sacrifice is made ; is this on the ground of so 
much for so much? The reward of Chrir>tian life is hoped for, but it 
is Christ that is worked for, and lived for, and, if need be, died for. 
Hope and fear may incite, but it is the love of Christ that constrains. 
Until this takes possession of the heart, no acceptable work is done ; 
when this enters into the service, it absorbs all other motives into 
itself. 



SERMON VIII. 
THE TEST OF LOVE. 

"If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments." — John xiv. 15. 

1-N King James' Version of the New Testament the text 
reads: "If ye love me, keep my commandments." The 
rendering of the Revised Version, which is adopted in this 
discourse, reads thus : " If ye love me, ye will keep ray com- 
mandments." In the Old Version the text contains a pre- 
cept : " Keep my commandments " ; in the New Version it 
contains no precept, but rather a prophecy, or at least, a 
statement of fact: "Ye will keep my commandments." The 
text as thus rendered is equivalent to two distinct proposi- 
tions, one expressed, and one implied : First. All who love 
me keep my commandments. Second. None who fail to 
keep my commandments do love me. The text simply draws 
the line of demarkation between those who love Christ and 
those who do not love him. The doers are the lovers ; the 
non-doers are the non-lovers. Many passages of Scripture, 
some of which will be hereafter quoted, teach the same 
doctrine ; but the passage before us has been selected as the 
foundation of this discourse, because it expresses the thought 
in fewer words than any other, and seems to have a sharpness 
and point not elsewhere to be found. 

The Scriptures teach that " a man is justified by faith 
without the deeds of the law " ; the result of which is, that a 
man is saved with an everlasting salvation without the 
slightest reference to anything that he has ever done or can 

ever do. Faith in Jesus Christ is the only ground of salva- 

127 



128 The Old Theology. 

tion. Yet obedience to the law is as much a duty as if Christ 
had never died ; nay more, for since more has been done for 
us, we are under additional obligation ; and what was duty 
before is doubly duty now ; and besides this, we have 
an additional incentive to duty, for the love of Christ con- 
straineth us, and if we are now disobedient, we resist stronger 
impulses for good than would have been possible if Christ 
had not come, and hence incur a greater guilt. If God in his 
mercy has provided a plan whereby some of the violators of 
his law may be forgiven, it does not follow that his law is 
thereby abrogated, repealed, or suspended. The great princi- 
ples of right and wrong can never be suspended ; and this is 
only another form of saying that the law of God is eternal 
and unchangeable. " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
mind, and with all thy strength, and thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself," has always been the law of God for 
moral and rational beings, and that law will abide forever. 
It is the will of God, and has its origin in the nature of God, 
and therefore must be as immutable and as eternal as he is. 
During the existence of God, not for one moment can that 
law cease to operate ; for when that ceases he ceases. 

Throuo-h the merciful arrano^ement which God has made 
for us in the plan of salvation, we are removed from under 
the curse which our violation of that law has brought upon 
us ; but the law itself is just what it always was. Christ, the 
great disturbing cause, has removed us from under its curse, 
but not from under its obligation. "Think not," says he, 
" that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets ; I am 
not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto 
you. Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall 
in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matt. 
V. 17, 18. His mission was not to diminish our obligations, 
but to increase them; and wherein we fail, his function is 



The Test of Love. 129 

to supply what is lacking, substituting his perfect righteous- 
nefes for ours which is imperfect, so that every jot and tittle 
of the law may be satisfied. The word of God declares 
to us, in times and ways without number, that by faith in 
him we are put in such position that our sins are set to 
his account, and his righteousness to ours. This indeed is the 
essence of the whole gospel. If this doctrine were taken out 
of the New Testament, what might be left of it would give 
us no comfort. But its precepts would still remain, and still 
be binding on us. The precepts are there now. Are they 
any the less binding, because God has revealed his mercy 
on the same pages on which they are recorded ? Is the voice 
of command coming from the Supreme Authority of the uni- 
verse less obligatory, because he who utters it loves us ? The 
sin against infinite justice seems to be of infinite turpitude; 
what shall we say when the sin against infinite justice and 
the sin against infinite mercy are combined ? 

There is no bottom to our guilt ; it is a fathomless abyss ; 
there is no end to it ; it cannot be measured. Yet faith 
in Jesus Christ will take it all away ; we shall be delivered 
from the penalties of sin ; we shall be delivered from its 
power, from the love of it, from the temi)tation to it, and 
from the thing itself; and we shall be made as holy in our 
own persons, as if there were no such thing as sin in the 
universe; and being perfectly holy, we shall be perfectly 
happy, and shall dwell forever with God, and with the holy 
angels. 

That all this will be the result of faith in Jesus Christ, is 
as certain as that the word of God is true. But how shall 
we know that we have faith in him ? We may know that we 
have faith in him if we love him. But how shall we know 
that we love him ? I shall answer this question presently ; 
but before this, let me say, that faith and love imply each 
other. He who believes loves, and he who loves believes. 



130 The Old Theology. 

It is impossible that one should have faith in Jesus Christ, in 
the sense in which faith was described in a former discourse, 
without loving him ; and it is impossible that one should love 
the Saviour, without believing in him; for men never love 
what they believe to be unreal. If I say that faith and love 
are twin-sisters, or if I say that faith is the mother and love 
is the daughter, or if I say in the language of Scripture, that 
" faith worketh by love," and if I add that it works in no 
other way, — whatever I may say, I mean that faith and love 
are inseparable, and that he who has one has the other. Now 
we repeat the inquiries of a few moments ago. What evi- 
dence can we have that we are possessed of the faith that 
saves ? If we love Christ, we may be sure that we have faith 
in him. But what evidence have we that we love him? We 
cannot trust the testimony of our own hearts ; they have often 
deceived us before ; they may deceive us now. Is there 
nothing visible and tangible by which we can reach, at least, 
a comforting opinion as to whether we love him or not? 
Yes, there is plenty that is both visible and tangible. Christ 
himself supplies us with the touch-stone which is an infal- 
lible test. " If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments." 
Do you keep his commandments ? If so, blessed art thou ; if 
not, cursed art thou. Of course, the instant reply to this will 
be, " Then we are all cursed ; for none of us keep them fully." 
God knows our imperfection. He knows that in our de- 
praved state it is impossible for us either to be, or to do, all 
that his most holy law requires. But he knows, and we 
know, that much is possible ; and not only so, but much that 
is easy; and not only so, but much, that if we had a right 
spirit, would be delightful. Now, judging by this low stand- 
ard, and in this greatly modified sense, do you keep his com- 
mandman^s ? Our condition is analogous to that of a man 
who is bankrupt, and who has compounded with his creditors 
at fifty cents on the dollar. This much he is able, amply 



The Test of Love. 131 

able, to pay. He gives his notes for this amount ; and these 
notes ought to be paid in full. Have you paid in full what 
you could pay ? Have you paid half of what you could ? 
Have you paid one-tenth part of it ? Have you paid the one- 
hundredth part of it? There are many who have not paid 
the smallest sum — the sum last named. The evidence that 
they love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity is so small as not 
to be worth noticing ; and the evidence that they have faith 
in him is just as small, i know not where to rank them 
except with the unbelievers ; and all unbelievers are lost. 
Many a man has made his way through the church of Jesus 
Christ into perdition. Many a man has professed faith with 
his lips who shows none of it in his life ; and all such profes- 
sions are vain. Many a man has professed faith not only 
with his lips, but in the solemn ordinance of baptism, in 
which the name of the glorious Trinity — of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, was named ; and even 
that profession, the most sacred that could be made by a 
human being, has been but a mockery. I pity the man who 
has broken a vow so solemn, and so awful ! How do we 
judge whether one has incurred this tremendous guilt ? By 
his after life. " If ye love me, ye will Iceep my command- 
ments." Those who do not keep his commandments do not 
love him, and those who do not love him have no faith in 
him, and the faithless are lost. He whose faith and love do 
not manifest themselves in his daily life, gives evidence that 
his profession in baptism was either a frightful mistake, or a 
frightful falsehood. 

The religion of Jesus Christ is essentially a religion of 
doing. In some respects this religion claims less than any 
other, I may say infinitely less, for it claims nothing ; no 
price is paid ; salvation is free ; nothing is to be done as the 
ground work of it ; we have nothing to do ; we have only to 
believe in what has been done, and in him who did it. In 



132 The Old Theology. 

other respects this religion claims more than any other; I 
may say infinitely more ; it claims all ; it claims that the 
whole life shall be dedicated to God ; it claims a life of 
righteous deeds; it claims the choicest treasures, and all 
the treasures, of the inmost heart. It claims the outward 
doings as matter of right, and it makes them the evidence of 
a state of grace, out of which there is no salvation and no 
hope. 

Men have abused the doctrine of salvation by faith, 
declaring that they exercise that faith, while yet they make 
no exhibit of the works which that faith, working by love, is 
certain to produce. " If faith saves," say they, " of what use 
are works ? " The use of works is to please God ; and he who 
has no works to show does not please God; and he who 
does not please him does not love him; and he who does 
not love him has no faith in him ; and the unbelievers are 
lost. Another use of works is that their presence is evidence 
of a gracious state, and their absence is proof of an un- 
gracious state. Another use of them is that many of them 
benefit and bless our fellow-men in their temporal condition, 
relieving their wants; and another, and greater use of them 
is that they are witnesses of the power of the love of Christ ; 
they demonstrate better than any other argument the truth 
of his teachings, and of his divine claims; they preach his 
gospel ; they win souls to Christ ; they hasten the coming 
of the Redeemer's kingdom ; they prepare the way of the 
Lord, and make his paths straight ; and when the kingdoms 
of this w^orld become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his 
Christ, it will be the result of human effort, on which the 
blessing of God has come to give it power. 

While then the religion of Jesus is essentially a religion 
of faith, and is the only one which is, it is also essentially a 
religion of doing, and is the only one which is completely so. 
What says our Saviour, who is also our Lawgiver? "If ye 



The Test of Love. 133 

know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." John 
xiii. 17. " Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I have 
commanded you." John xv. 14. " Not every one that saith 
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, 
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." 
Matt. vii. 21. " Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine 
and doeth them, I will Kken him unto a wise man which 
built his house upon a rock ; and the rain descended, and the 
floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; 
and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And every one 
that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not, shall 
be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the 
sand ; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the 
winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell : and great 
was the fall of it." Matt. vii. 24-27. " Whosoever shall do 
the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my 
brother, and sister, and mother." Matt. xii. 50. 

" Let your light so shine before men, that they may see 
your good works, and glorify your Father which is in 
heaven." Matt. v. 16. "Whosoever shall do, and teach 
(these commandments) the same shall be called great in the 
kingdom of heaven." Matt. v. 19. " Blessed are they that 
hear the word of God, and keep it." Luke xi. 28. Then 
comes the text : " If ye love me, ye will keep my command- 
ments." John xiv. 15. And here are texts of the same 
import : " He that hath my commandments and keepeth 
them, he it is that loveth me." John xiv. 21. " He that 
loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings." John xiv. 24. And 
these two texts are the exact equivalents of the two proposi- 
tions into which this morning's text has been analvzed. All 
the passages that I have quoted are from the words of the 
Lord himself. Hear now some of his apostles : " He that 
doeth the will of God abideth forever." 1 John ii. 17. 
" Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his 

M 



134 The Old Theology. 

commaDdments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth 
not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 
But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God 
perfected ; hereby know we that we are in him. He that 
saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as 
he walked." 1 John ii. 3-6. And how did he walk? " He 
went about doing." Acts x. 38. These last quotations have 
been from John, the apostle of Love. Now let us hear from 
Paul, the apostle of Justification by Faith, without the deeds 
of the law : " Faith worketh by love." Gal. v. 6. He speaks 
of faith as the living principle ; love as the motive power, 
and works as the result. Again he says: " Unto them that 
do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indigna- 
tion and wrath, tribulation and anguish. But glory, honor, 
and peace, unto every man that worketh good." Rom. ii. 
8—10. The very same apostle, whose great mission was to 
teach that we are saved, not on the ground of obedience to 
law, describes the fate of the disobedient by the words indig- 
nation and wrath and tribulation, and anguish ; and the 
same apostle who teaches the worthlessness of works as the 
basis of salvation, describes the future of every man that 
worketh good, by the words glory, honor, and peace. Again 
he says that we are created (that is by the new birth), 
" created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath 
before ordained that we should walk in them." Eph. ii. 10. 
Again, speaking of Christ, he says, that '' being made perfect, 
he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that 
obey him." Heb. v. 9. Clearly he makes Christ the author 
of eternal salvation, and he mentions obedience, not as the 
fountain of it, but as the stream that runs from the fountain. 
And finally he says : " Not the hearers of the law are just 
before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." 
Rom. ii. 13. 

Surely Paul, the great advocate of justification by faith, 



The Test of Love. 135 

s ys enough about doing. Even in the Epistle to the 
Romans, whose great object is to set forth this doctrine, five 
whole chapters, out of the sixteen, are devoted to the setting 
forth of good works. Having closed his argument in the 
first eleven chapters, he begins the twelfth with these words : 
" I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, 
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, accept- 
able unto God, which is your reasonable service " ; and the 
remainder of the Epistle, five chapters, consists of little else 
than a catalogue of practical duties, with exhortations to dis- 
charge them. And with the exception of the doxology at 
the close, the very last words of the Epistle, are these, " the 
obedience of faith," that is, the obedience which springs from 
faith. 

Now comes the Apostle James, who says : " To him that 
knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." 
James iv. 17. " Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers 
only, deceiving your own selves." James i. 22. "Faith, if 
it have not works, is dead." James ii. 17. 

It is the peculiarity of the gospel that, while it casts away 
good works with one hand, it puts them in the fore-front 
with the other. It casts them aside as saviours, or as means 
of salvation, and pronounces them worthless. On the other 
hand, it brings them out as of supremest obligation, and as 
fruitage, as the results, and therefore as the signs of salvation 
already wrought, by means wholly aside from them. The 
saints of God are saved, not in heaven, but here, here on the 
earth ; the good works are part of the salvation, for " God 
hath before ordained that we should walk in them " ; and 
heaven hereafter is the other part ; the good works on earth 
are part of th^ heavenly life, and therefore are heaven 
begun. The employment is heavenly, the motive is heav- 
enly, the results are heavenly, and the rewards are heavenly. 
Aside from our text, and from the other teachings of 



136 The Old Theology. 

Scripture, what better evidence can a man give that he is on 
the way to the heavenly city than this : that he is all the 
time doing heavenly things, and that, too, with heavenly 
feelings? On the other hand, what stronger evidence can a 
man give that he is unsaved, and that there is no heaven for 
him than this: that he is doing none of the things that 
heavenly-minded people do, none of the things which show 
that he has love for him whose blood alone makes heaven 
accessible, and none of the things which show that he has 
faith in him ; and that he lives in habitual disobedience to 
the God of heaven, disregarding his law, and practically 
ignoring his authority? 

Let each one of us apply these principles to his own case. 
Perhaps one will say : " I think my case is hopeful. I have 
tried to keep the Commandments ; I have been honest and 
truthful ; I have kept myself pure ; I read the Bible daily, 
and say my prayers regularly ; I attend most of the religious 
meetings, and contribute somewhat to the support of religious 
and benevolent enterprises." Have you done all this? Then 
indeed your religious record is better than that of the aver- 
age church-member. Yet the argument to be drawn from 
this record is very unsatisfactory. Your life appears to be 
one of indifference. If you have faith in Christ, you love 
him, and it would seem that so strong a passion as love would 
produce greater results than these. Love is the strongest 
motive power in the universe. Where this great force is in 
operation, we look for something great to come of it ; but 
there is nothing great in the account that you give of your- 
self. There is, it is true, a languid compliance with law, in 
not doing the things which are forbidden ; and a still more 
languid compliance in doing some of the things which are 
required; but all this might be done from habit, or from 
education, or from compliance with custom. Your circum- 
stances in life may have cut these grooves for you, and you 



The Test of Love. 137 

may slide along in thera with a motive power immeasurably 
less than the love of Christ. Such a life gives but poor 
evidence of saving faith. Your evidence is mostly of the 
negative kind ; it shows what you do not do that is positively 
wrong, but of actual doing there is very little. Religious life 
does not consist in mere abstinence from wrong ; it is not a 
dead inertia ; it is an aggressive force, an executive power, 
an ever-living, and ever-forth-putting energy. Activity, 
ceaseless activity, is its law. Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. 
Can a man do this without beino; intent and eao^er on his 
Father's business? And will he have much spare time to 
dedicate to idleness ? " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
thyself." If a man's heart is full of this law, and if he does 
all that is implied, or half of it, wdll his life be an inactive 
one ? If a man keeps both these laws, or honestly attempts to 
keep them, will his life be listless and indolent? How is it 
possible, even with the most liberal construction, that any- 
thing can be regarded as a half-way compliance, or even as 
the tithe of a compliance with this law, which does not in- 
volve great effort, and great self sacrifice? Does the sluggish 
life of the ordinary so-called Christian give any very satisfy- 
ing evidence that there is in his heart the prodigious motive 
power called the love of Christ? He abstains from out- 
breaking sin ; he reads his Bible, and says his prayers, and 
attends church, and once in a month is seen at a prayer- 
meeting, and contributes moderately of his substance in 
support of the Lord's cause. Is this all that the love of 
Christ can do? It can do a thousand times more. Why, 
then, does it not do it ? It is easy to suppose that the reason 
why it does not do it is, that it is not there. I judge no one, 
but I pray each one to judge himself. How many sick have 
you visited ? How many hungry have you fed ? How many 
naked have you clothed? How many homeless have you 

M2 



138 The Old Theology. 

housed ? These are prominent among the doings that are to 
be done, under the teachings of the gospel, and under the 
law of love, which is the law of God. How many ignorant 
have you instructed ? How many distressed souls have you 
comforted? How many of the saints have you strengthened 
in the faith, by your conversations and counsels? How 
many wayward ones have you warned and persuaded ? How 
many can bless you for benefits conferred by you, spiritual or 
temporal ? How much better is the world for your having 
been in it ? And how much has all this cost you ? How 
much of your time and of your personal exertion? How 
much of your substance ? What proportion of it ? How much 
gospel is preached by your daily life? By your influence, 
example, and character ? Suppose that every Christian had 
as little do in him as there is in you, what would become 
of the cause of practical benevolence ? What would become 
of the world's poor, and of its unfortunates ? What would 
become of the cause of true religion ? What progress would 
be made by the kingdom of Christ, which advances nowhere 
except where it is carried forward by human agency ? 

It is said that on a recent occasion sixteen persons united 
with Mr. Spurgeon's church in London; when it was pub- 
licly stated by the pastor, that two of these had been brought 
into the kingdom by his instrumentality, and that the other 
fourteen were brought to a saving knowledge of the truth in 
Jesus by the members of the church. How much work of 
this kind have you done ? Where are your trophies ? Where 
are the witnesses of your beneficence? 

Brethren, ask yourselves these questions, and draw your 
own conclusions. These conclusions, in many cases, may be 
very painful. They may throw great doubt on the genuine- 
ness of your profession. They may put you in the dreadful 
condition of a man who has publicly put on Christ by bap- 
tism, and whose heart is a stranger to grace. You may well 



The Test of Love. 139 

ask rae : "What shall I do?" Certainly you have reason 
to ask that question, and to ask it with tears, and with terror. 
You will find the answer to the question in the word of God. 
Read it for yourselves. 

Without reference to any particular case, or class of cases, 
let me address my appeal to the whole brotherhood. Would 
it not be well for us all to begin at the beginning, and regard 
ourselves as unconverted sinners ; and with the light which 
we have gained by our experience and study, to do for our- 
selves just what we should advise an unconverted man to do, 
if he were to come to us for counsel? Let us look at the law 
of God, and see how holy it is, and how reasonable, and how 
right, and how necessary, and how exacting, and how in- 
exorable. Let us look at our sin in violating this law, and 
see how enormous it is, and how frightful its consequences 
must be. Let us look at ourselves, and see how guilty we 
are, and how helpless. Let us look to Christ, and see how 
great he is ; mighty to save; able to save even to the utter- 
most all who come to God by him. Let us trust in him; 
believing what he says of himself, and what is said of him in 
the word of God ; believing it with joy and with confidence; 
believing in him as the Son of God, and the Saviour of the 
world ; relying on his person with assurance of safety. As 
soon as we do this we shall stand justified before God; we 
shall be saved ; and our salvation will begin right here ; and 
will immediately show itself in good works, which we cannot 
keep from doing. The salvation of our God prompts a man 
to good works; and so prompts him that he cannot be 
restrained from doino- them. The relis-ion of the Bible is a 
religion of doing; and when that religion is in a man's 
heart, no power on earth can prevent his doing. '• If ye love 
me, ye will keep my commandments." Jesus Christ is 
responsible for saying that the consequence is a necessary 
one. It is necessary in the eternal nature of things. 



140 The Old Theology. 

Let us then set out afresh ; and let us all begin at once. 
Let us begin like a whole congregation of new converts, on 
whose minds the light has just broken in, and whose hearts 
for the first time feel the love of Christ constrain ingj them. 
We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God ; and now let us 
be doing. Let each one find out for himself some way of 
doing good; yea, various ways. This is now a practical 
thing ; there are no theories either to trouble us, or to amuse 
us ; let us come down to the actual realities of this matter-of- 
fact life. There is no poetry and no romance in this busi- 
ness; much of it is very trying, and very perplexing, and 
very wearisome ; but if the love of Christ is in these hearts 
of ours, we can dispense with the poetry, and go into the 
work. Let everybody do good to somebody. Let us do 
good to those that are near, and to those that are afar. The 
whole world is none too large to take into a heart that has 
been expanded by the love of Christ. Let us have ever 
before our eyes the royal law, '* Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself." And who is my neighbor? Any one who is 
made in the image of God ; any for whom Christ died. And 
how many neighbors have I ? Fourteen hundred millions ! 
And can I do good to all these ? There is no telling how 
many of them you can enlighten. A solitary ray of. light 
shot forth from the sun may illuminate, to some degree, the 
hemisphere, at least, of a planet. Whatever may be the 
result, you are responsible for the effort. 

Oh ! could we all join our hearts and hands together, and 
simultaneously take a new departure ! I, for one, should be 
astonished if Pentecost were not to repeat itself. At any 
rate, we should be doing what the word of God requires. 
We should be only doing our duty at last. But in this dis- 
charge of duty we should glorify God ; and to glorify God is 
all that the angels in heaven can do. Christ, whose love 
constrains us, asks it of us. Can we refuse him? 



The Test of Love. 141 

Strange to say, the world, this wicked world, expects this 
life of consecration from us. It is a wicked and adulterous 
generation, and it seeks a sign. There is a sign which it has 
a right to expect. "Show us your gospel in the concrete," 
say they. " Let us see how it works in practice. What 
kind of men does it make ? Put it to its best, and let us see 
what it can do." The world clamors for preaching — for this 
kind of preaching. And verily this kind of preaching is a 
power. A holy life is the grandest of sermons, the most 
convincing of arguments, the most persuasive of appeals. It 
puts under arrest the world's attention, its admiration, and 
its homage. It stops the mouths of the gainsayers; it puts 
to silence the ignorance of fooli:h men, and sweeps away the 
sophistries of learned men. 

On the other hand, the sluggish life that we lead, the little 
difference that there is between us and those who make no 
profession of religion, is the greatest stumbling-block in the 
way of sinners — the greatest obstacle to the world's con- 
version. Our lives are a reproach to the gospel — to the very 
gospel by which we hope to be saved ! 

Let us break away from the old paths, and make a new 
start, as if for life. Then, even if we fail of success, in doing 
good to others, the effort will react on ourselves. The best 
way for a man to benefit himself, is to try to benefit somebody 
else. Work develops grace. The doers of the word are they 
who enjoy its blessings. 

Arouse ! ye men of Israel, and come up to the help of the 
Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Then will 
ye have peace of mind — and not till then ! There is not a 
happy man in the house. And why ? Because there is not 
a consistent Christian here. Peace of conscience, perfect 
peace — who has it ? Not one ! In consecration there may 
be sacrifice, but there is joy. Our highest pleasure is when 
we please God. Oh, the pleasure, the rapture of doing good, 



142 The Old Theology. 

and being good ! A holy life is the ante-chamber to heaven. 
Would you like to know that the tie of friendship, of ever- 
lasting friendship, exists between you and the Lord Jesus? 
Would you like to see convincing evidence? Do whatsoever 
he has commanded you, and you have the argument which he 
himself has furnished. 



SERMON IX. 
NEGLECT OF THE GREAT SALVATION. 

"How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" — 
Hebrews ii. 3. 

GREAT is the salvation of the gospel ! It is great on 
account of what it saves us from ; great on account of 
what it saves us to ; great on account of the manner in 
which it is brought about. 

I. In the first place, it saves us from our sins. The atone- 
ment wrought by our Saviour had a far higher aim than 
merely to purchase our pardon; its greater objects were to 
procure for us a deliverance from those sinful dispositions 
which make pardon necessary, as well as from the moral 
deterioration and degradation consequent upon guilt. He 
was called Jesus, because he should save his people from their 
sins. Matt. i. 21. " The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us 
from all sin." 1 John i. 7. " As far as the east is from the 
west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." 
Ps. ciii. 12. By nature we are all corrupt. Every human 
being that is born in the world exhibits evil proclivities as 
soon as it is possible for him to do so. As we advance in life 
we find that from childhood onward, so thorough is our bias 
to do wrong, that we do it, even when we are trying to do 
right. We have all tried to be better than we are; 
but with every endeavor to live as we ought, we cannot 
succeed. What a commentary is this on human nature ! So 
totally corrupt, so thoroughly depraved, that we cannot live 

as we know we oug-ht to live, for one dav or one hour ! We 

143 



144 The Old Theology. 

know what the apostle meant when he said : " When I 
would do good, evil is present with me." Rom. vii. 21. ^ 
Even in our holiest moments, we feel that the contamination 
of sin still clings to us. So familiar are we with the fact of 
our depravity, that the thought of it awakens in us no alarm. 
But familiarity with a dreadful fact does not diminish its 
dreadfulness. Suppose a physician or friend, meeting you, 
were suddenly and unexpectedly to assure you that he saw in 
your face unmistakable symptoms of some frightful disease, 
like the small-pox, or like the plague, that awful scourge 
which visited London two hundred years ago ; would not the 
announcement thrill you with horror? But the gospel as- 
sures you, and so does your own consciousness, that you have 
a more dreadful malady than ever tortured a human body. 
Sin is the greatest evil in the universe ; it is a disease of the 
soul ; it is the worst evil that could possibly befall the soul. 
In the bottomless pit there is no poison more virulent, and 
this poison has diffused itself through your whole moral 
nature. Perhaps you will say : " If sin is so awful an evil, 
why do I not feel the effects of it?" Tnis is like one who 
has the fatal plague-spot on his cheek and who says : " The 
plague cannot be as bad as it is represented, for they say I 
have it, and I am sure I am not suffering a great deal." Yes, 
but do you not feel some unpleasant symptoms? Do not 
flatter yourself These are only premonitions of what is 
to come ; and the grief when it comes, will be none the less 
poignant because its earlier symptoms were endurable. No 
man can say that he has felt none of the effects of sin. 
Aside from all the pains and labors and sorrows of life, which 
but for sin wo ;ld never have been experienced, all men's 
consciences sometimes sting them. A sense of guilt will at 
times dart twinges through every man's soul. Have you 

^A heathen poet bears the same testimony: "Video meliora, 
proboque; deteriora sequor." — Horace, 



Neglect of the Great Salvation. 145 

never felt at least an uneasiness, sometimes painful concern, 
in view of the fact that you are a sinner? These unhappy 
moments are but presages of the future. The distemper is in 
your soul, but the time for it to break out and ruin has not 
yet come. Every unhappy moment, every misgiving as to 
your state and prospects, is evidence that the time is coming. 
In this life we experience, even at the worst, nothing more 
than the first feeble symptoms of the misery of sin. The 
most appalling feature of the disorder is, that it is destined 
to grow worse and worse to all eternity. Some diseases of 
the body take a certain time to run their course, and are then 
exhausted. It takes this disease eternity to run its course, 
and its venom is never exhausted. It is always tending 
towards its acme, but never reaches it. Dropping the figure, 
it is the nature of sin to reproduce itself, and multiply itself, 
and exacerbate itself. Suppose, unregenerate man, that you 
die in your present state. The sinfulness of your nature, 
being wholly unrestrained, would develop itself fully. 
Every circumstance around you would tend to make you 
more wicked. With nothing to check your downward 
career, and with a whole world full of lost spirits to hasten 
it, how much progress would you make in a thousand years ? 
If the mind expands, as expand it must with increasing 
experiences ; if progress is the law of moral and accountable 
beings — it is but fair to infer that the period will come, at 
some point in eternity, when the man who dies in sin will 
have reached a deeper degree of guilt than perdition has 
ever yet witnessed. One thing at least is certain ; it is not 
possible to exaggerate eternity, nor to exaggerate the horror 
of sin prolonged to eternity. Yet this is the condition to 
which human nature tends, and to which every human being, 
unless changed in nature, must come. We recoil from the 
prospect, yet strange as it may seem, our nature, instead of 
restraining, urges us on to the very state which we so much 

N 



146 The Old Theology. 

dread. We have all tried to keep from sin in this life, where 
its power is but partially developed, and where there are a 
thousand restraints operating on it; and we have tried in 
vain. How then can we succeed in the coming world, where 
the distemper shall have put on its full strength, — where 
there is nothing to check, and everything to aggravate ? 

Now then suppose that a salvation full and free were pro- 
claimed, from the evil of sin ! Would it not be a great 
salvation ? Would it not be worthy even of the Lord God 
Omnipotent ? This is the salvation that the gospel offers. It 
exhibits to us more clearly than we could ever otherwise have 
seen, the greatness of that gospel; it shows us that sin is the 
monster evil of eternity, and promises complete deliverance. 
The very conception of such things is found nowhere but in 
the word of God. Men never saw sin as it is there set forth, 
and until revelation came, no man ever dreamed of the great 
salvation. 

11. The gospel is great on account of" what it saves us to. 

It promises to lead those who embrace it to a state of 
moral perfection. What a conception is this ? Who ever 
thought of such a thing until the living oracles taught itl 
Depraved as we are, moral excellence commands our admira- 
tion and our homage. Let us picture to ourselves the char- 
acter of one who is kind, forgiving, and gentle; dignified, yet 
approachable ; childlike in simplicity, yet majestic in mien ; 
wise beyond measure; generous, honorable, high-minded, 
iuflexible in integrity ; brave, yet tender ; stern before error, 
yet patient with the weak ; wholly unselfish, and with a great 
heart full of love to all. Would it not be a great exaltation 
to any one of us to be made like such a man ? Suppose there 
were some fountain whose waters, if we were to drink them, 
would transfuse into us all these pure, and noble, and 
angel-like qualities. Should we not haste to quaff the 
heavenly beverage, and drink, and drink, and drink forever? 



Neglect of the Great Salvation. 147 

The gospel is that fountain! It not only cleanses from all 
sin, but when its work is done, it will make its subjects re- 
splendent with every virtue exercised in heaven. " It doth not 
yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall 
appear we shall be like him." (1 John iii. 2.) If glory will be 
revealed to us, such as eye never saw nor ear heard, what shall 
we say of the glory that shall be revealed in us (Rom. viii. 
18), when this mortal shall have put on immortality? We 
shall " bear the image of the heavenly." (1 Cor. xv. 49.) The 
wrapt Psalmist, looking forward to the glorious moment when 
he should bux-st through death into perfect purity, exclaimed, 
" I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." (Ps. xvii. 
15.) Such is the aspiration of the saints; nothing le^s will 
satisfy them than to be perfect, even as their Father in heaven 
is perfect. Nor is it a vain hope, for the gospel abounds with 
assurances in various forms that the spirits of the just will be 
made perfect. Without holiness shall no man see the Lord 
(Heb. xii. 14); from which we learn that the moment the 
freed spirit enters into the Holy Pi'esence, it becomes holy. 
But this is not all. It is not to be supposed that so good a 
thing as development in excellence is confined to earth and 
excluded from heaven. The law of improvement under 
culture is stamped on everything that has life. It is also 
true that as we ascend in the scale, as qualities become more 
glorious, they become more and more susceptible of improve- 
ment ; thought and feeling — the most Godlike qualities of all 
— being more capable of development in power and excel- 
lence than anything else. Can we suppose that this sublime 
law prevails all over the universe of God, except within his 
own abode, where above every other place there would be 
room for its operation ? Are they who " see God " and who 
must be learning forever more and more of the depths of the 
unsearchable riches and wisdom and o-lorv of the Infinite — 
are they the only beings who are not profited by increase of 



148 The Old Theology. 

knowledge, and by glorious surroundings? Is the knowl- 
edge of God and heaven, the ouly knowledge that does not 
expand and bless those who obtain it? Are the saved in 
heaven the only creatures of God who are doomed to be for- 
ever stationary, whom no labor nor culture can benefit? 
Imagine then a human soul, cleansed from every taint and 
trace of sin, progressing in moral excellence, to eternity. 
Perhaps too, the degrees of progress will be inconceivably 
rapid. A moment in eternity may be more than a thousand 
years in time. In this progress who can doubt that the intel- 
lectual will keep pace with the moral ? And if so, we shall 
make attainments as sublime in wisdom as Godlike in virtue. 
The period may come when some of the saints now living in 
the world will have attained to more moral splendor, and 
more intellectual grandeur, and more personal majesty, than 
has yet been reached by the brightest of the angels. The 
principle must forever hold good, that there is no such thing 
as standing still in morals ; we must either improve or 
deteriorate. Following the principle into eternity, we are 
led to see that if the unsaved become baser than fiends, the 
paved must become more glorious than the angels. At any 
rate, they will be prepared for the inheritance that is pre- 
pared for them, and that inheritance will be co-extensive 
Avith Christ's, and they will be one with Christ, even as he 
and the Father are one. (John xvii. 23.) How splendid the 
destiny of those who are the subjects of the atonement ! Yet 
what less could be expected as the result of the everlasting 
covenant between the Father and the Son ? What less could 
be accomplished by the sacrifice of the Lamb that was slain 
from the foundation of the world ? What inferior end could 
be proposed when God became manifest in the flesh, when 
Christ was crucified and died? See what the gospel saves 
us from ! See what it saves us to ! In this sublime antithesis 
we see something of the greatness of the great salvation. 



Neglect of the Great Salvation. 149 

Yet we have seen but half the glory. We have been 
regarding only the evil of sin in itself, and the excellence 
of holiness in itself. But the gospel saves us from the con- 
sequences of the one, and to the rewards of tlie other. 

III. It saves us from the penalty of sin. That penalty is 
the eternal wrath of Almighty God. The word of God 
declares the place of the wicked to be a lake of fire and 
brimstone. Whether the language be literal, or whether it be 
figurative, it is perhaps impossible to determine, nor is it im- 
portant. Wicked men seem to derive a comfort, poor though 
it be, from the hope that the language is figurative. But if 
there be comfort in this construction, that fact would seem 
to show that it is a wrono; construction. For what comfort 
can there be in any view of actual perdition ? Men try to 
soothe themselves with the shallow delusion that, because the 
language may be figurative, the facts described must be un- 
real. They ask, sometimes with an air of ridicule : " Will 
the flame be real flame ? " Yes : whether it be material and 
tangible is of small importance. When the wrath of the 
Almighty shall wrap itself around the soul of the damned, 
the writhing spirit will forget all inquiries about figures of 
speech, and will be agonizingly aware that the vengeance of 
Jehovah, in whatever form manifested, is sufficiently real, 
and infinitely dreadful. But lest any should still try to 
take comfort from the persuasion that the Bible description 
of the world of woe is " after all only a figure of speech," let 
it be observed that if it be a figure, that fact only shows that 
no literal language could possibly describe the reality, and 
that the figure was resorted to only as a second choice. The 
figure, if it be one, has reference only to material things, 
whereas the facts pertain to spiritual things ; and as wide as 
the distance is between mind and matter, just so wide must 
be the distance between the figure in question and the facts it 
illustrates, but fails to describe. Men may philosophize and 

N2 



150 The Old Theology. 

quibble and scoff, but one thing is certain ; and that is, that 
the Eternal Potentate whose wrath the sinner provokes is 
" able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matt. x. 28. 
Facts are fearful things ; and it is the fact, that every sinful 
man is liable to all that can be meant on any interpretation 
whatever, by " everlasting destruction from the presence of 
the Lord, and from the glory of his power." 2 Thess. i. 9. It 
is the fact, O brother, sinful man, that you cannot save your- 
self from the dreadful doom ! It is the fact also, that the 
gospel can save you ! The glorious gospel of the blessed 
God ! It works miracles. It is omnipotent. So far as the 
redeemed are concerned, the lake of fire is quenched. The 
rivers of God's love have inundated it, and swept it away, so 
that its place is not found. Wherever the ransomed spirit 
goes the Spirit of God goes with him, and thus the universe 
is heaven. This is the great, the great salvation. 

IV. The gospel not only makes us holy, but gives us thj 
rewards of holiness. Virtue is to some extent its own re- 
ward. Blessing is inwrought into its very nature. But that 
happiness which is the natural product of virtue, is not all 
that is in store for the redeemed of the gospel. God has pre- 
pared a place for them. He who knows every capacity of 
the human soul, knows how to provide a corresponding 
source of enjoyment for each. If he who formed the eye 
knows how to combine beautiful colors on the landscape or 
in the sky, so as to please it ; if he who formed the ear regu- 
lates the vibrations of the atmosphere in such a way as to 
gratify that organ, so he who formed the sublimer capacities 
of glorified spirits knows how to gratify their vision with 
sights such as we never saw, and how to thrill their hearts 
with divine melody, one strain of which, if we could hear it, 
would waft us away on its balmy wing to the spirit-world. 

In our present state, the perception of truth is one of our 
noblest sources of enjoyment. In the light of eternity we 



Neglect of the Great Salvation. 151 

shall doubtless see truth as no mortal ever saw it. Even 
here, with our meaner capacities, when the perception of a 
sublime truth bursts upon us, we can sometimes scarcely re- 
frain from shouting with joy. There, truth after truth may 
flash upon the mind in eternal succession, like suns one after 
another launched into the firmament. The soul would be 
overpowered by the display, but it expands commensurately, 
and the act of expansion is itself another source of joy, which 
floods us with delight. The social feelings and affections are, 
in this life, sources of our dearest and tenderest delights. 
But where we have a loved one here we may have a thou- 
sand there ; every tendril of our hearts here may contain the 
germs of myriads more, that will develop in eternity. The 
deepest ardor that ever glowed in a human heart may be 
but lukewarmness to the love that burns in the bosoms of 
the blest. Our tastes are here the source of some of our 
most refined enjoyments. But it may be that our most 
delicate sensibilities are but coarse and dull, compared with 
the subtle and ethereal fibre of spirit-life. It is delightful 
and it is ennobling, in this life, to contemplate mentally, 
and at a distance, the characters of the wise and great and 
good, even such as earth produces. But what is this to the 
blessing pronounced on the pure in heart, who "shall see 
God!" 

However grand our ideals may be of the heavenly state, 
we know that, compared with the real, they are vain, meagre, 
and wretched. The very word of God itself presents the 
glories of the upper world in terras of awe-inspiring mystery. 
Let it suffice for us, without endeavoring to conceive the in- 
conceivable, to know that in his presence is fullness of joy, 
and that at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore. 
To introduce us into this glorious state of perpetual bliss, 1o 
crown us with the highest order and degree of happiness 
which infinite wisdom, power, and love have prepared for 



152 The Old Theology. 

moral beings — this is the work of the gospel. This is the 
work of the gospel ; this is the salvation it brings. Angels 
and glorified spirits, who know its rewards, can appreciate 
better than we the great salvation. 

V. But we have been looking at the results rather than 
at the cause; perhaps we can obtain a more adequate con- 
ception of the grandeur of the former by regarding for a 
moment the infinity of the latter. The salvation of the 
gospel is great on account of the vastness of the sacrifice 
which .was made to accomplish it. This, indeed, seems to 
have been the prominent thought in the mind of the apostle 
when he wrote the text, for he introduces it by a whole 
chapter of praise to him, who is the brightness of the Father's 
glory, and the express image of his person. Heb. i. Filled 
as his mind was with conceptions of the greatness and glory 
of the Saviour, it was by an easy transition that he spoke of 
the greatness of the salvation. " Without shedding of blood 
is no remission of sin." The blood that was shed for us was 
the blood of the only-begotten Son of God. It was no angel 
that was sacrificed. The expression of God's displeasure 
aij-ainst sin which was made on Calvary, was more tremen- 
dous than if a thousand hecatombs of angels had been sacri- 
ficed and laid as a holocaust upon the smoking altar. We 
cannot understand the mystery of God manifest in the flesh. 
Doubtless this will be one of the truths which in eternity will 
burst upon our astonished vision. Now, we only know that, 
" His name is Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the 
Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace." We only 
know that, in a mystery, the " Mighty God " became iden- 
tified with the man Christ Jesus, who was crucified, thus 
imparting to the sacrifice all the dignity which the Almighty 
can either confer or possess. That must be a great salvation 
to accomplish which Infinite Wisdom had resort to means so 
stupendous. Glorious are all the works of God ; but this 



Neglect of the Great Salvatio:n^. 153 

work of his grace would seem to be a crowumg glory. 
Great, great is the salvation of the gospel! 

Yet there are those who neglect it ! Hear, O Heavens ! 
and be amazed, O Earth ! there are those who neglect the 
great salvation! How shall they escape! How can they 
escape ! Sinner, living in neglect of the gospel, how do you 
expect to escape ? Contemplate for a moment the guilt of 
one who treats with cold neglect the greatest manifestation 
of goodness that God ever made. 

1. He shows, in the first place, that he does not care to be 
saved from sin. The gospel would deliver him from his 
depraved and wicked nature, but he will have no such deliv- 
erance. He does not desire to be free from sin ; all horrid 
as its pollution is, he does not wish to be cleansed from it. 
He sees that its tendencv is to make him forever and ever 
more sinful, yet he is not willing to relinquish it. He sees 
the awful, the diabolical extreme to which it leads, yet he 
cherishes it. He may even experience the pangs of convic- 
tion, but at the very time that he feels the sting of sin he still 
clings to it. He neglects the gospel, which is the only thing 
that can destroy its power. How can he escape ? There is 
salvation fi*om sin, but he neglects the gospel which brings it; 
thus involving himself in deeper guilt than would be possible 
in a world which no gospel had ever reached, committing 
a crime which devils cannot commit. How can he escape? 

2. He sees the glorious estate of virtue and holiness to 
which the gospel saves its subjects; he admires it; he is en- 
raptured with its contemplation ; yet he neglects the gospel 
which alone can lead him to that holiness. How evidently 
he shows that, while he pays the tribute of his intellect to 
moral goodness, he has no appreciation of it in his heart, 
and no desire to be personally holy. Instead of giving him- 
self up to this gospel, he is engrossed with the poor, pei'ish- 
ing business or pleasure of this transitory world. He might 



154 The Old Theology. 

become more exalted in excellence tha'i the very seraphs in 
heaven, but he neglects the gospel which is the means of it. 
By giving his attention to the things of this life, he decides 
that he prefers them ; and thus throws contempt on that 
state of purity and holiness to which the gospel would raise 
him. How can he escape ? 

3. He knows that heaven is bestowed on those who em- 
brace the gospel. Yet such is his aversion to that gospel, 
that for the sake of heaven itself he will not embrace it. 
All the joys that are at God's right hand cannot tempt him. 
How deep and how bitter must be his hostility to that 
gospel ! It alone can save him, and it he neglects. How 
can he escape ? Ought he ever to escape ? 

4. He knows that eternal perdition awaits those who neg- 
lect the gospel. But even the flames of hell, that flash up 
before him, do not prevent him from going right on! He 
hears the voice of God calling to him, in solemn inquiry: 
"What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel 
of God ? " (1 Peter iv. 17), but he does not heed it. He 
hears the awful denunciation : " He that believeth not shall 
be danmed." But in his life he scoffs at the Almighty, dares 
his vengeance, and persists in neglect ! How can he escape ? 
Will the Almighty spare him ? Must not outraged justice 
overtake him? Is there any mercy left for those who have 
repudiated and rejected all mercy? The gospel which is the 
embodiment of mercy, of infinite mercy, he neglects. How 
can he escape ? 

5. He knows that the Son of God became incarnate and 
was crucified to effect this salvation, yet he neglects it. God 
from eternity premeditated this great salvation, yet he will 
scarcely regard it for a moment ; and thus he casts contempt 
on God's most cherished plan. The blood of the atonement 
v.as shed for him, yet he scorns it. He thinks more of a 
petty transaction in his business than he does of that 



Neglect of the Great Salvation. 155 

stupendous transaction which brought this great salvation 
to the world. 

Suppose he perseveres in all this. Suppose he perseveres 
in clinging to sin, although the gospel can save him from it ; 
suppose he persists in refusing that holiness which the gospel 
can confer; suppose he continues to disregard the awful 
sanctions of the eternal world ; suppose above all that he 
will persist to the end, in trampling on the blood of the 
Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world — how 
can he escape f Can the mind of man suggest a mode of 
escape ? Can the heart of man hope for one ? There is no 
escape ! And in the last great day all such will call to the 
mountains and to the rocks, and will say, "O mountains! 
O rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that 
sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb ! " 

Perhaps the amiable and upright unbeliever is still un- 
impressed with the " terrors of the Lord," and flatters him- 
self that, because he is not conscious of great and outbreaking 
sin, his case is hopeful, and that his fate will at least be mild. 
Good friend, the most solemn thought perhaps which the text 
suggests has not occurred to you. The mere neglect of the 
gospel will shut you out of the great salvation. No great 
positive crime is needed; the mere negative sin of neglect 
will insure your destruction. The text does not speak of 
atheists, and infidels, and murderers, nor of any who trans- 
gress in open and outrageous crime. It speaks of those who 
merely neglect. They may not despise the gospel ; they may 
even respect it; still they disregard it, they pass it by. Tiiis 
is enough. This seals their fate. If a man does not embrace 
the gospel, of what use is it to him ? No matter how great 
this salvation is ; if a man refuses it, how can it benefit him ? 
Not to act, is to act. Not to receive the gospel, to neglect it, 
is to reject it ; and how can he escape who rejects so great 
salvation ? No matter how amiable his life, or how spotless 



156 The Old Theology. 

his integrity among men, if he spurns the greatest gift of 
Infinite Love, how can he escape ? 

While we are dwellers in this present state the preacher of 
the gospel is authorized to offer its blessings to all. There 
may be some who have sinned away their day of grace ; 
doubtless there are. Though the invitations of the gospel are 
freely held out to such, and they are at liberty to accept it if 
they will, yet God will not help them, nor incline their hearts 
to accept the proffered mercy. They are joined to their idols, 
and God will let them alone. Of what use is even the gospel 
to the God-forsaken soul, who has no help from on high, to 
avail himself of it ? The doom of such is already sealed. 

But to all others condescending mercy still calls, " Turn 
ye! turn ye! why will ye die?" (Ezek. xxxiii. 11.) Incarnate 
Goodness still reasons with them, " Though your sins be as 
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red like 
crimson, they shall be as wool." (Jsa. i. 18.) Bleedmg Love 
still appeals to them in the prayer from the cross, "Father, 
forgive them, for they know what they do! " thus exemplify- 
ing to them, and to a world full of sinners, that the murder 
of the Lord of glory did not exclude the murderers from his 
intercessions, nor from the benefit of the blood which their 
own hands had shed. You who have crucified the Lord 
afresh, come look on him whom you have pierced ! Hear 
him intercede for your enormous sin, in neglecting the great 
salvation which he brought. Believe the assurance of his 
word, which declares that his blood " cleanseth from all sin," 
and though you have long neglected, you may still accept, 
and in eternity forever enjoy, the great salvation ! 



SERMON X. 

THE POSITION OF BAPTISM IN THE CHRISTIAN 

SYSTEM. 

"Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. "—Matthew 
iii. 15. 

" Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." — Mat- 
thew xxviii. 19. 

"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that 
be'.ieveth not shall be damned." — Mark xvi. 16. 

MANKIND are prone to two evil intellectual habits : one 
is to look at only one side of a question, and the other 
is to carry the partial view thus obtained to an extreme. 
Nowhere are these unfortunate tendencies more conspicuous 
than in the domain of religion, and on no subject, perhaps, 
more than on the subject of baptism. Owing to extreme and 
one-sided views, its importance is overrated by some, and 
underrated by others. 

The former class attribute to it a power which is super- 
natural, miraculous, omnipotent. In their view, it has the 
power of creating the soul anew. If any man be in Christ, 
he is a new creature ; and baptism brings him into Christ. 
Baptism is essential to regeneration, or rather it is regenera- 
tion. Without regeneration there is no salvation, and with- 
out baptism there is no regeneration. All who are regenerate 
are saved, and all who are baptized are regenerate. Baptism 
is therefore all in all. More is not needed; less is perdition. 
In the last day, those to whom the Judge will say, " Come, 
ye blessed," are the baptized ; and those to whom he will say, 
" Depart, ye cursed," are the unbaptized. 

O 157 



168 The Old Theology. 

Some of the greatest extremists might accept these results ; 
others, less logical, will not accept the results, while yet they 
hold to the principles that lead to them. Having merely 
stated this view, without argument either for or against it, it 
is enough to say that it greatly overrates the value of bap- 
tism, and is wholly unsupported by Scripture. 

Another class regard baptism as a mere form. The most 
consistent of them regard it as a useless ceremony, and dis- 
card it altogether. Others retain the rite, but lay little stress 
on it. In their opinion, the place it occupies as a human 
duty is an insignificant one ; they speak of it as a non-essen- 
tial, and therefore as a thing not worthy of any very great 
consideration. Many persons are lost with it, and many are 
saved without it; and hence any great time or attention 
bestowed on this is so much taken away from the weightier 
matters of the law. Without arguing the question, suffice it 
to say that, in our opinion, this view underrates the value 
and importance of baptism, and is not countenanced by the 
word of God. Strange to say, however, persons who enter- 
tain this view are sometimes in haste to administer the ordi- 
nance of baptism to a dying person ; and this shovvs that, 
after all, they are unsettled in their minds, and also that the 
transition is easy from one extreme to its opposite. 

But what is baptism? Certainly it is a form, but it is 
not a mere form. The word mere strips the form of all its 
adjuncts, and leaves nothing but the form. Baptism is 
clearly more than this ; for — 

1. It is an act of obedience. Now, obedience to God is as 
high a function as any moral being can perform. It is the 
carrying out of the purposes of infinite wisdom and good- 
ness. The least act of obedience is a great act. Not one jot 
nor tittle of the law of God is unworthy of the source whence 
it came ; and he who obeys in the least particular is thus far 
in harmony with the Almighty ; and, in doing the will of the 



Baptism in the Christian System. 159 

Supreme, he is doing that which ennobles himself and glori- 
fies his Maker. In what way can a man or an angel more 
grandly exalt himself? In what way can he better serve his 
God? To say that such an act is a mere form because it 
involves a form, is to lose sight of the God who has com- 
manded it. 

2. It is but a slight variation from the preceding thought 
to say that, so far as baptism is a form, it is a prescribed form, 
and therefore the peer of anything else that is prescribed. 
"Whoso shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one 
point, he is guilty of all. For he that said. Do not commit 
adultery, said also. Do not kill," and he also it is who has 
prescribed the form we have spoken of. There is the same 
authority for this that there is for any other duty. It is part 
of the law of God ; and to disparage any part of that law is 
to disparage the whole of it. God's law is a unit ; God's law 
is virtually himself; it is himself expressed. To speak 
lightly of it is to speak lightly of him; and to say that 
anything which he has commanded is simply a form, a mere 
form, a naked form, and nothing but a form, would seem to 
be a shocking irreverence. If it is not taking the name of 
God in vain, it is at least speaking vainly of the law of God ; 
and if there be a distinction in these kinds of profanity, it is 
not needful now to trace it. 

3. Baptism is an act of worship. All work is worship ; 
especially all righteousness is worship ; and especially is this 
act of righteousness an act of worship, because there is 
nothing in the nature of things which requires it ; in this act 
we obey no instinct, no dictate of mere reason, nor of 
unenlightened conscience. It is done in homacre to no ab- 
stract principle of right, if there be any such principle ; it is 
done as unto God. It is done purely for him, and therefore 
would seem to be worship in a higher sense than almost 
anything else that we do. If it is glory to the angels to cast 



160 The Old Theology. 

their crowns at his feet, so also it is glory to us to cast 
ourselves at his feet, as we do when, subjecting our wills to 
his, we obey his word. Worship formulated is none the less 
worship ; and if God himself is the forraulator, that fact 
would seem to invest the worship with higher dignity and 
greater acceptableness. 

4. Baptism is also an act of imitation. The Son of God 
set us the example, and in so doing he uttered the word 
"Thus." True, this word was addressed directly to John, 
and had reference to the act immediately to be performed. 
But what was duty for the actors in that scene is duty for 
all ; what was duty then is duty now. The disciples after- 
wards baptized under the immediate order of our Lord, and 
hence we know that what he then inaugurated he intended to 
be continued ; and if the act is continued, why may we not 
couple with it the words which first accompanied it ? May 
we not extend the meaning of the word thus, and consider it 
as addressed not only to John, but to all of us ? Otherwise, 
why was the record made ? If any lovers of our Lord had 
stood on the banks of the Jordan and witnessed the scene, 
would they not have understood him, in the use of the word 
thus, accompanied by the act, to describe duty for them ? We 
stand on the banks. We witness the scene. We witness 
other baptisms administered by his order, and doubtless in 
his presence, and hence may consider ourselves addressed in 
the word thus. It is as if Christ had said, " I am your 
model ; here is your pattern ; what I am doing it becomes 
you to do." If there be any doubt in language, there is none 
in action. The act, the fact to be witnessed, is the thing to be 
done. It is always safe to follow the example of Christ, and 
perilous it is to refuse to do so, when he has declared that he 
intended it to be followed. Not to obey is to disobey ; and if 
obedience to God be our highest glory, disobedience is our 
greatest disgrace and our greatest destruction. To disobey 



Baptism in the Christian System. 161 

when we are told what to do is a certain grade of crime ; but 
to disobey when we are not only told, but shown what to do, 
would seem to be a higher grade of crime. When he who 
was the brightness of the Father's glory and the express 
image of his person, submitted to the ordinance of baptism, 
and, virtually summoning the whole world to hear, said 
" Thus," he dio^nified the form into somethino- more than a 
form. He made it a part of his history, and thus glorified it 
for eternity; and at the same time he made it part of our 
duty, and thus exalted us to the privilege of being so far, at 
least, in union with him. It is no small thing to say that his 
history is our history. It is a privilege to know that in any 
one single thing we have done exactly what he did. That 
far, at least, we know our record is honorable and glorious. 
Christ said to Simon and Andrew, " Follow me ! " Shall we 
confine the call to these? His whole life is an embodiment 
of the same words as addressed to us all. Follow thee ! 
Yes, precious Saviour ! we follow thee with joy ! Blessed 
are they who follow! Blessed are they w'ho walk in 
his footsteps! If we would be conformed to his image, 
let us conform to his actions. If God said once to Moses, 
" See thou make all things according to the pattern 
showed to thee in the mount," and if Moses showed his 
greatest wisdom in exact obedience, and if he would have 
shown greatest folly in speaking of this as a mere form, so 
when Christ has said to us, as he does by the word thus, " See 
thou do all things according to the pattern I showed thee in 
baptism," we shall be wise indeed if we copy the pattern, and 
foolish indeed if we speak lightly of it. No, it is not a mere 
form ; it is an adaptation of ourselves, thus far, at least, 
to him. 

5. Baptism is an act of consecration. It is the outward 
expression of an inward act. It is the visible embodiment 
of a sentiment — the sentiment of consecration. The body is 

02 



162 The Old Theology. 

made subservient to the behests of the soul, and gives itself to 
baptism as the soul gives itself to God. Admit that this in- 
ward consecration might exist without the outward act, it is 
still true that no sentiment takes as thorough possession of us 
unexpressed as when expressed ; and be sure that the form 
of expression which God has selected will most intensify tlie 
sentiment, and better than any other subserve its purpose. 

6. But baptism is more than an act of private consecra- 
tion ; it is an act of public profession. It is an announce- 
ment to the world that we are Christ's. It is the act by 
which we commit ourselves openly to him and to his cause. 
It is the public putting on of Christ; and surely to put on 
Christ is not a mere form. Putting on Christ is what an 
angel cannot do. It is what cannot be done in heaven ; in 
no part of the universe except on earth can this glorious deed 
be done. 

7. Baptism is an act of symbolic meaning; and while it is 
a profession of faith, it also teaches by emblem the principles 
of the faith that is professed. Divine truth is taught in 
actions prescribed by the divine will, no less than in words so 
prescribed. Baptism is an expression, brief but comprehen- 
sive, of the leading doctrines of the New Testament. It is 
itself a Testament ; it is itself the W'ord of God. Preo^nant 
with infinite meaning, it is the most condensed and most in- 
tensive utterance, in symbol, of revealed truth that God has 
vouchsafed to us ; or, at least if it has a peer, it is found only 
in that other ordinance in which we show forth the Lord's 
death until he comes. To speak lightly of this, to regard it 
as a form and nothing but a form, is to be blind to almost 
heavenly glory. 

When the King of kings and Lord of lords issues sover- 
eign mandates to his holy angels, can we suppose that they 
regard any one of them as a mere form? Would those glori- 
fied ones so trifle with that which has for its authority, Thu^ 



Baptism in the Chbistian System. 163 

saith the Lord? How much better is the case when man, 
whose breath is in his nostrils, thus impeaches the wisdom of 
the All- wise, Supreme, and Eternal Lawgiver of the universe? 
Is it conceivable that the great God could possibly lend the 
sanction of his authority to that which is nothing but empti- 
ness? or that he would command us to do that which might 
well be left undone? Does disobedience of any part of his 
law make no change in our relations to him ? A mere form 
is an insignificant thing, and unworthy of respect. Has God 
commanded anything that is insignificant or unworthy of 
respect? Is any part of his law contemptible? The soul 
takes fright at the very thought. God's commandment is 
exceeding broad ; each part of it is jealous of the honor of 
every other, and each is invested with the majesty of all. 

A blessed thing it is to obey ; but when we obey in a 
manner prescribed, and when w^e worship, and imitate our 
Lord Jesus Christ, doing just what he did, consecrating our- 
selves to God, putting on Christ before men and angels, and 
by the self-same act symbolize all the essential principles of 
the gospel, surely the act must be one w^hich outranks in dig- 
nity any other outward act of which human beings are 
capable, and one on which an intelligent universe must gaze 
with admiration and delight. Impressed with these views of 
'the dignity of baptism, the candid inquirer, shocked at the 
impiety of calling it a mere form, thus casting dishonor on 
the Almighty, may naturally incline to the other extreme. 
It need excite no surprise if one should say, " Surely the per- 
formance of such a deed will ensure the salvation of the soul ; 
for it is not to be supposed that any of those can be lost who 
are admitted to such a privilege ; and surely the neglect of 
such a solemn duty must lead to destruction; surely there 
can be no forgiveness for such flagrant sin." 

The lover of evangelical truth needs not to be reminded 
that nothing that w^e can do is the ground-work of our salva- 



164 The Old Theology. 

lion. " A man is not justified by the works of the law, but 
by the faith of Jesus Christ ; ... by the works of the law 
shall no flesh be justified." Gal. ii. 16. All deeds of the law, 
that is, all acts of obedience, are here classed together, and 
of course baptism is included; and if the whole of them 
together are declared to be worthless as a ground of justifica- 
tion, of course any one of them must be so. 

But even if the baptism prescribed were meritorious, and 
possessed of saving efficacy, it does not follow that everything 
that is called by the name of baptism would be of equal 
value. Suppose the outward act to be done ; but if it is not 
done as an act of obedience; and not because it is a form 
prescribed ; and not as an act of worship ; and not in imita- 
tion of our Lord's example; and not as an act of private and 
personal consecration ; and not as an act of public profession; 
and not as an act of symbolic meaning ; then, indeed, it is 
not only a form, but a mere form ; its spiritual character is 
gone; it is simply mechanical, and has no more value nor 
dignity than a washing of the body which might happen to 
one by accident. If the word fails to profit when not mixed 
with faith in them that hear it, so neither does baptism profit 
when not mixed with faith in them that receive it. Indeed, 
" whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Rom.xiv. 23. And surely 
what is done in the name of the Holy Trinity, if without 
faith, must be sin in most aggravated form. The baptism 
which is required of us involves all the religious elements 
heretofore described ; hence a baptism, so-called, which has 
none of those elements, is clearly not the same thing ; and 
even if there were saving power in genuine baptism, which 
there is not, there could be none in this. Doubtless many 
have been baptized with a spurious baptism, and have dis- 
covered at last that it was indeed a mere form. But it can 
never be too often repeated, that baptism, however genuine 
and proper, and however exalted in rank as a duty, is, after 



Baptism in the Christian System. 165 

all, only a duty ; and we must not make the fearful mistake 
of substituting corporeal washing in water for spiritual wash- 
ing in the blood of the atonement. 

The intelligent inquirer may still say: "I know that 
baptism is not our saviour ; Christ is our Saviour. I know 
that the duty of baptism, whether discharged with faith or 
without faith, is like all other duties, and is neither the 
reason of our being saved, nor the means of our being saved, 
nor a certain evidence that we are or will be saved ; but is 
not the neglect of it a certain evidence that we are lost, and 
also a good reason why we should be lost?" 

In reply to this let it be said, that where sin abounds, 
grace does much more abound ; and that there is no sin so 
dreadful that the blood of Christ has not power to wash it 
out. True, there is such a thing spoken of as an un- 
pardonable sin, but it is not implied that this is because 
there is any failure in the efficacy of the atonement; and 
above all, there is not the least hint that this sin consists 
in the neglect of baptism. It is possible, indeed, that 
baptism, like any other duty, might occupy such a position 
in the life of an individual man, as to be in his case a 
turning-point, a test question, on the decision of which, it 
is to be settled whether or not he will yield unqualified 
obedience to God ; and in his case neglect of this particular 
duty might be an unpardonable sin ; but to say in general 
terms that the neglect of baptism is an unpardonable sin, is 
to say that which has no shadow of warrant in the New 
Testament. Neglect of baptism is like neglect of any other 
duty — sinful. But sin does not stand between God's elect 
and heaven. Christ has removed it ; his blood has washed it 
into nothingness. 

Again comes in the honest seeker for truth and says: 
"You tell me that the duty of baptism is one of vast 
importance, and yet that its observance will not save, nor its 



166 The Old Theology. 

neglect destroy. How can these things be reconciled ? What 
is the exact relation of the duty to the salvation of the 
soul?" 

The relation is the same as that of any other duty, neither 
less nor more. Its importance as a duty does not give it the 
least importance as a saviour. It holds high rank in one 
department, and no rank at all in the other. Duties may 
vary in their relative importance, but they do not vary in 
their universal want of power to save, or to do anything 
toward saving. In that respect duties are all alike. 

It may throw some light on the whole subject to answer 
the often-asked question, " Is baptism essential ? " The an- 
swer to this question will be nothing more than repetition, in 
different form, of what has been already said ; but difference 
of form may be exactly what is needed. 

The question as it stands is unintelligible. The word es- 
sential implies relationship; and relationship implies two 
objects of thought, for if th-re were only one object, relation- 
ship would be impossible; and in the question asked only 
one object is presented — namely, baptism ; it is therefore 
incomplete and cannot be answered. He to whom it is ad- 
dressed may well ask. Essential to what f If the inquiry be 
as to whether baptism is essential to salvation, the answer has 
already been given. It is not essential. If the inquiry be, Is 
baptism essential to duty ? the answer has also been given. It 
is essential. 

Another inquiry suggests itself, and that is, How can a 
thing be essential to duty and yet not essential to salvation ? 
This question implies forgetfulness of the whole scheme of 
redemption. Absolute obedience in every jot and tittle is 
essential to duty; but if absolute obedience be essential to 
salvation, then none will be saved, for there is none righteous, 
no not one. Our only hope is that our shortcomings in re- 
gard either to baptism, or to anything else, are atoned for by 



Baptism in the Christian System. 167 

the precious blood of him "vvho died for us, and gave himself 
for us, and bare our sins in his own body on the tree. 

It is aside from present purposes, but it may not be amiss 
to say to those who speak of non-essentials, that if the word 
non-essential is not connected in their minds with some other 
word, their language is meaningless, and they deceive them- 
selves by supposing that they are saying something when 
they are saying nothing. Non-essential to what ? That is 
the question. Without an expressed or implied answer to 
this, the word non-essential conveys no idea whatever. When 
they speak of this or that being non-essential, do they mean 
non-essential to salvation? If so, let them remember that it 
may still be essential to duty. And to speak lightly of duty 
is to speak lightly of law, and to speak lightly of law is to 
speak lightly of God. Let us therefore be careful in speak- 
ing of non-essentials, lest we fall into the folly of talking 
about nothing, or into the sin of casting contempt on the 
holy law of God. 

The exact relation of baptism to the salvation of our souls 
has now been set forth ; we have seen that in this relation it 
differs from no other duty; and now, avoiding on the one 
hand the error of those in whose extreme view it is endowed 
with the miraculous power of regeneration ; and on the other 
hand the error of those who look on it as a mere form ; and 
avoiding, too, the strangely illogical error of those who speak 
of it as a trifle and yet hasten to administer it to the dying ; 
and for ourselves regarding it simply as an important duty, 
but not as a saviour, nor possessed of any merit whatever, — 
let us examine the Scriptures, to ascertain the degree of im- 
portance as a duty, which is there attached to it. 

1. Let us begin by saying that we are always greatly 
influenced by first impressions. There is a reason why this 
should be so. The mind is in good condition then to form 
clear conceptions. To that which is first there can be uoth- 



168 The Old Theology. 

ing previous. Hence there are no disturbing influences, and 
nothing interferes with or modifies the full force of any 
thought that may be presented. When a public speaker 
rises to address an assembly, his very attitude and look, 
before he has said a word, will influence the minds of his 
hearers favorably or unfavorably. His first sentence is sure 
to be listened to, and on its effect, to no small extent, depends 
his success. The preacher begins by announcing his text. 
This always commands attention. The sermon is supposed to 
come from the text ; hence, the sermon must be in the text. 
Sermon and text are in a sense the equivalents of each other ; 
as it were the opposite sides of an equation ; the text is the 
sermon in brief; the sermon is the text expanded. 

Now what is the text of the ministry of Jesus Christ taken 
as a whole ? What is his attitude when he is first presented 
to the world in his public character ? What is the first im- 
pression that he makes ? 

Forever be it remembered that the very first recorded 
utterance of Jesus Christ, which by extension of meaning 
may be applied to us all, and which certainly applied to him- 
self, was his testimony for baptism. Let the human race 
turn their eyes upon him as he introduces himself at once to 
his work and to the world, and they behold him in the act 
of baptism. This is at once his first utterance and his first 
attitude. " Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness," 
are the first recorded public words that fell from the lips of 
the Son of God. Suiting the action to the word, he yields 
himself to the rite, and calling upon mankind to the remotest 
generations, as it were with a shout that will resound to the 
end of time, he said " Thus " ! 

Here, then, is the text of the whole ministry of Jesus 
Christ, both spoken and acted. Here is an epitome, in word 
and emblem together, of all that his future ministry is to de- 
velop. He knew the power of first impressions, and selected, 



Baptism in the Christian System. 169 

as the first that he would make, that which is made by bap- 
tism. It may amaze us, but still it is true, that baptism has 
been selected b} Infinite Wisdom as the initial of the grand 
and glorious work on earth of the Redeemer of mankind. 
Does all this seem to be too wonderful to be true ? Look to 
the record and see if a public word was ever spoken by him 
prior to the word " Thus;" or if a public act was ever per- 
formed by him previous to baptism. Here, then, is both the 
title-page and the frontispiece of his ministry. There are the 
recorded words ; there is the picture of the act. If Christ 
has honored baptism thus, by putting it in the foreground of 
his work, let those beware who speak of it as a thing of little 
moment. 

2. First impressions are strong ; perhaps last impressions are 
stronger. We may forget our first introduction to a friend; 
we are not likely to forget our last and parting interview. 
Especially is this the case when we know, at the time of the 
interview, that it is to be the last. Dying words are apt to 
be undying words. We cherish them with peculiar interest 
and with utmost tenderness; and, even if they were not 
cherished, even if we try to obliterate them, they fasten 
themselves upon our memory and seem to sink through our 
whole nature. Jesus Christ knew what was in man, and he 
knew the power of last impressions ; and among the last words 
he ever uttered were these : " Go teach all nations, baptizing 
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost." This was after he had risen from the dead ; 
and it w^as after forty days of mysterious existence before he 
had ascended to his Father, between the lowly sepulchre and 
the heavenly throne, and in his last moment on earth, just 
before he was received into a cloud up into heaven out of 
sight. Surely the occasion was a grand one, and the words 
then spoken ought to have been worthy of it, and they were. 
They were words that spoke of baptism. If baptism 

p 



170 The Old Theology. 

was the text and exordium of his ministry, so now it has 
become its peroration. He closed as he began. The initial 
foreshadowed the conclusion. The orator prepares with care 
his closing words ; the lawyer wishing success strives to get 
the last word ; the dying friend, knowing his words to be the 
last, and with eternity right before him, speaks words of ten- 
derness and truth; and Jesus Christ, closing his ministry, and 
closing his personal intercourse with his people, and knowing 
that they would never hear his words on earth again, spoke 
of baptism. Let the lip quiver when it utters the word 
mere. 

Is it not wonderful that the mention of baptism is both at 
the beginning and at the end of the ministry of Jesus Christ ? 
Ought not these two God-spoken announcements to arrest 
the attention of mankind? Are they not like two sentinels, 
one at either end ; like two great watch-towers over against 
each other ; like two huge pillars parallel and opposite, based 
on earth, and reaching to heaven? Let those reject these 
figures who please, but the world is challenged to dispute the 
facta. Nor is it any relief to say that the facts were acci- 
dents. Accidents do not happen with God. Nor is there 
any relief in saying that the facts are unimportant. If the 
beginning and the ending of the public career of incarnate 
Godhead are not important, it would be in vain to search the 
annals of -time or of eternity for that which is important. 

3. But another view awaits us. When one person is 
giving directions to another in regard to a multitude of 
things, he mentions a few of the most prominent and im- 
portant, particularly and by name; the rest he groups to- 
gether, in phrases which describe them all as a whole, but no 
one of them as a unit. Especially is this the case if the 
directions are the last that are to be given. In such a case, 
to mention and make conspicuous trifling matters of detail, 
to the forgetfulness or neglect of the main and leading 



Baptism ii^' the Christian System. 171 

points, would be unnatural, and, to a well-constituted mind, 
impossible. 

Just before our Lord parted with his disciples for the last 
time, he held a conversation with them, in which he gave 
them his final directions for the great work that lay before 
them of evangelizinor the world. All the words that he 
spoke, it is to be presumed, were not recorded ; but we may- 
judge of what was said by what is written. The record 
shows that, in speaking of various and multiform duties, he 
used generic terms, saying comprehensively, and without par- 
ticular description of any one thing, "Teaching them to ob- 
serve all things whatsoever I have commanded you." But, 
from out the long catalogue of the " all things " which they 
are commanded to teach, one thing is mentioned by name, 
and only one, and that one is baptism : " Go ye and teach all 
nations, baptizing them." Why this particularity? Why 
was this segregated and made to stand out in bold relief, 
while the " all things," grouped together, formed the back- 
ground? Suppose the thoughts to be presented to the mind 
by the act of painting rather than by words. Which would 
be the conspicuous figure on the canvas? Which would be 
the key to the picture? What means this, that baptism 
stands alone, and flooded with light, while the " all things " 
cluster together in the shade? It may not be easy to answer 
this last question ; but, whatever the answer may be, he must 
be audacious indeed who supposes baptism to be anything 
less than a great commandment. 

4. Let it not be supposed that imagination has outstripped 
the reality. Our ideals never exceed, but always fall short 
of, God's reals. Another fact confronts us, more astounding 
than any that have yet been named. There are many, 
many things which we are required to observe and do ; but 
there is only one duty devolving on any member of the 
human race, which he is required to do "in the name of 



172 The Old Theology. 

the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," and that 
one duty is baptism. Why should the act be coupled with 
this dread and awful formula? What else can it be than to 
give it the emphasis of the Infinite? If baptism is an expres- 
sion, are not the tremendous powers of eternity summoned 
up to infuse the energy of Godhead into it? Why is no 
other duty required to be done in a manner so deliberate, so 
solemn, and so awe-striking? By withholding the dread 
sanction from other duties and giving it to this, are they not 
relatively depressed, and is not this made to loom up as, in 
some respect at least, a duty without a peer? True, when 
the sick are anointed with oil, and the issues of life and 
death are at stake, it is to be done "in the name of the 
Lord," but not "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Grhost." There is no calling up of the 
three separate Persons of the Trinity ; God is appealed to 
as God ; but the three glorious Witnesses, each by name, and 
one by one, in mysterious unity, are not displayed as in bap- 
tism. Actions are dignified by deliberation; actions are 
dignified by being done in the immediate presence of God, 
and in the name of God. That the idea of God may fully 
occupy the mind, and that the thought may be detained, that 
his glory may spread over all, and his majesty make all sub- 
lime, he unfolds himself as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in 
the ordinance of baptism. Why is it that one duty, and 
only one, is accompanied by these august honors and these 
terrible sanctions? Whatever the reason may be, the fact is 
undisputed and immovable. In the light of this fact, let 
scoflTers turn white as snow ! 

Modern scholarship seems to have most clearly decided 
that the word translated in, in the formula of baptism, should 
have been translated into. What the words may mean, when 
thus translated, we cannot precisely conceive. But there is 
something awful about them. Baptized into the name of the 



Baptism ik the Christian System. 173 

Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost! There 
seems to be a hidden significance in the word into, before 
which the meaning of the word in melts away to nothing. 
Is it too much to say that the name of God is God ? And are 
we baptized into him ? Are we plunged into that ocean of 
Eternal Being ? Whether it be so or not, we are drowned in 
this ocean of thought. Overwhelming as these conceptions 
may be, and inadequate as must be our view of the truth of 
God, yet the fact stands out on record, on the living oracles 
of the living God, that we are baptized into the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 

Possibly, angels may comprehend what to us is an insolv- 
able mystery ; and, if they do, must they not look on with 
amazement as upon one of the most wonderful phenomena of 
eternity when they behold a sinful man baptized into the 
name of God? Without pretending to explain what sur- 
passes human powers of thought, it is enough to say that 
baptism would not be the only duty commanded to be done 
" in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost," if it were not a duty whose importance and whose 
rank should command the awe- struck reverence of all created 
intelligences, 

5. But we have not reached the greatest wonder yet. Our 
nature is not poured out into words as it can be into acts ; 
and neither our words nor acts are like those of the Almighty. 
In the formula of baptism we use his sacred name. True, it 
is by his command that we do it ; still, it is we who do it. 
On one stupendous occasion the formula was not spoken, but 
acted ; and it was God who enacted it. Once only, in the 
history of the world, has God in his triune character mani- 
fested himself to his creatures, and that was on the occasion 
of baptism. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were each sepa- 
rately manifested at the river Jordan. The glorious Son was 
baptized ; the glorious Father spoke from heaven ; and the 

P2 



174 The Old Theology. 

glorious Holy Spirit descended like a dove ! The words of 
the formula were embodied into the acts of the Trinity ! 
For ever sacred, for ever awful, for ever fearful words ! Oh, 
sublimest drama of Earth ! Never before, never since, has 
the world witnessed such a spectacle. Once the world was 
visited by more than twelve legions of angels; but these were 
only the messengers of the Throne, and not its Occupant. 
Gethsemane was a place of lonely agony. Calvary resounds 
with the cry, " My God ! my God ! why hast thou forsaken 
me?" But in baptism the triune God has set his earthly 
throne, for there only has he been manifested to the world. 
Perhaps the facts of that occasion are the basis of our present 
formula ; these words are the echoes of those facts ; and they 
may have been prescribed to keep us ever in remembrance 
of that moment of transcendent majesty, the conspicuous and 
exalted moment of all Time. But why was baptism singled 
out as the occasion for such amazinsr display ? We may not 
be able to say, but the fact stands up as a witness with a 
voice louder than ten thousand thunders as God's testimony 
in honor of baptism. 

6. It will relieve the strain upon our minds to take a view 
less overpowering. We judge of a man by the company he 
keeps. The same principle that prevails among animals of 
lower order seems to hold good among men, — like consorts 
with like. Hence to know a man's associates is in a certain 
sense to know him. Knowing the class to which he belongs, 
we know at least his rank and his general characteristics, 
even if we remain ignorant of his individual peculiarities. 
So also we judge of the opinion which a man has of any- 
thing by the classification which he awards it ; or by the con- 
nection in which he speaks of it, and especially if he always 
speaks of it in that connection. Thus if one speaks of 
angels and archangels, cherubs and seraphs, we take it for 
granted that in his opinion these different orders of beings 



Baptism in the Chuistian System. 175 

are in some way related to each other, and that in some 
respects they are, if not equals, yet worthy of being named 
together. There may be differences among them ; still, he 
looks at the resemblances rather than at the differences, and 
places them all in the same category. So, too, when in the 
Apocalypse mention is made of dogs, and sorcerers, and 
whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and liars, we 
suppose that however these may differ from each other, they 
are all measurably on the same footing, because the classifica- 
tion groups them all together as members of the same family. 
What minor differences there may be among them are 
ignored because of iheir general similarity ; and we are 
confirmed in this view because elsewhere the same classes 
with others of like character are named together, and the 
same destiny is assigned them. In fact, every man's mind is 
so constituted that he cannot help being influenced in his 
opinion of a thing by the classification in which it is found. 
The principle is founded in nature ; and as the Bible was 
inspired by the God of nature, it cannot be wrong to apply 
the principle to the interpretation of the book. What classi- 
fication is awarded by the word of God to baptism ? Let the 
record speak for itself: " He that believeth and is baptized 
shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." 
Five things are here spoken of; believing, — not believing, 
— salvation, — damnation, — and baptism. The first subject 
named — believing — is one of infinite importance ; for " with- 
out faith it is impossible to please God." The second — not 
believing — is the peer of the first, for the unbeliever makes 
God a liar, and unbelief is the seed-sin of all sins. The 
third — salvation — is a thing of transcendent importance, for 
it involves all the eternal joys that are at the right hand of 
God. The fourth— damnation — is fit to be mentioned in 
frightful antithesis to Avhat precedes, for it involves infinite 
ruin in everlasting fire prejiared for the devil and his angels. 



176 The Old Theology. 

These four themes, towering in gigantic importance, are fitly 
named together, and the fifth — baptism — is fit to be named 
in this colossal companionship, or it would not have been so 
named. It is not a case of accident, where a small thing has 
by inadvertence been slipped in among the great. It is by 
divine intention that these five things are classified together. 
It is the grouping of Infinite Wisdom. Nor is it conceivable 
that either God or men would put a trifle in connection with 
the most stupendous themes of eternity. 

Judge of baptism by the company it keeps in the word of 
God, and decide whether it is a thing of small moment. 
There must be something in the nature of the facts which 
makes their association proper. God would not associate 
together in a kind of union things which ought not so to be 
associated. Hence from the very fact that they are named 
together, we know, not only that there is a propriety in the 
combination, but we also know there must be something in the 
nature and essence of things which is the foundation of this 
propriety. What this something may be, which brings close 
together things which in our conceptions are far apart, we do 
not know, and have no means of ascertaining. But our con- 
ceptions are not to be our guide. God's conceptions are 
eternal truth. And if in his conceptions belief and unbelief, 
and salvation and damnation, and baptism, are so connected 
as to be named conjointly, then what God hath joined to- 
gether, let not man put asunder. 

It adds force to the argument to remember what has been 
already said, though on a different topic, that baptism is also 
named in connection with " the name of the Father, and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The association is one of 
supremest dignity ; nor is it less than sacrilege to suppose for 
a moment that such association would find place in the word 
of God, if it had not foundation in the everlasting law of 
right. He who scoff's at baptism, scofl^s at that which keeps 



Baptism in the Christian System. 177 

glorious company. If an insult is offered to one's associates, 
IS it not offered to him ? 

7. The words small and great are relative in their mean- 
ing ; and things small and great are so only by comparison. 
The baptism of a believer is in some respects a small thing; 
it is a small thing when compared with the baptism of Jesus 
Christ. "Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." 
If there be any doubt as to whether the word us includes 
ourselves, there can be no doubt that it included him who 
uttered it. If he had said, " thus it becometh me to fulfill all 
righteousness," the words would have expressed real truth. 
From this we learn that if our Lord had not done what he 
did, his righteousness would not have been fulfilled ; and if 
not fulfilled, it would have been incomplete ; and if his right- 
eousness had been incomplete, he would have been incom- 
plete, and the world would have had no Saviour ! Hence 
his baptisin was essential, — essential to the salvation of the 
world ! AVhat a moment was that in the history of the uni- 
verse, when on its action hung the destinies of eternity ! No 
wonder it was honored by sublimest manifestations, and 
elicited expressions of divine pleasure, and displays of glory 
from the Throne itself. True, indeed, every moment of 
Christ's life was pregnant with eternal destiny, but this par- 
ticular moment has been singled out for pre-eminent distinc- 
tion, above every other moment in the earthly career of the 
Son of God. Perhaps it was because in that act of consecra- 
tion, he took upon him the vow to do and to suffer his 
Father's will to the uttermost, and all his future work was 
constructively and concentratively present in that one germi- 
nal deed. In our own baptism, although our salvation does 
not depend on it, let us remember that it is the imitation and 
the counterpart of that on which the salvation of the world 
did depend. Let this fact invest it with profoundest solem- 
nity and dignify it into awful majesty. And if not in the 



178 The Old Theology. 

letter, yet in spirit, Christ includes ourselves with him in the 
word us, elevating us thus to the heavenly peerage of the 
sons of God, let us so observe the duty as to be worthy of the 
glorious companionship, and let our baptismal vows be like 
his whose promise was equivalent to performance. 

8. Another fact worthy of our most devout attention is 
the fact that baptism is the only duty of all the duties en- 
joined upon us which we are required to perform but once. 
This fact gives it a distinction which it enjoys all alone. The 
observance of the Lord's Supper may be, and ought to be, 
often repeated. Many other duties continuous in their nature 
seem to be part and parcel of our daily lives, and in their 
discharge we may from time to time improve. But on bap- 
tism there can be no improvement. It is the act of a moment, 
and when done it is done for eternity. If we are to be judged 
for the deeds done in the body, and if this one deed, invested 
w^ith the most awful, and most glorious, and most dreadful 
sanctions of the Almighty, is to be done but once, and once 
for all, with what solemn preparation, and with what unutter- 
able reverence should it be done! Is it not the greatest 
visible crisis in life ? Is it not a turning-point to which we 
should look both forward and backward with trembling 
interest? May it not be the era from which some of the 
grandest interests of eternity are dated ? 

9. There is a difference between truths and facts. It is 
not easy to give a definition of truth, but the word fact may 
be more easily handled, and it is with this chiefly that we 
have to do. It is from the Latin word facio, factum, and 
means that which is done. Truth is not the result of action, 
but fact is. Truth may be spoken, truth may be believed, 
but it cannot be done. No agent is necessary to its existence. 
Not so with fact; for, before anything can be do7ie, there 
must be a doer. Truth is eternal ; facts date only from the 
time when they became facts; that is, from the time when 



Baptism in the Christian System. 179 

they were done. Truth is much more vast than fact, and 
oftentimes not so easily comprehended. Truth is matter of 
principle, which may not be clearly understood. Fact is like 
that which is the object of sense. Truth may often seem to 
evade the grasp of the wisest. Fact is within the reach of 
all, even the feeblest. These differences, and others that 
might be named, are such that the presentation of truth often 
fails to make as clear and as strong an impression on the 
mind as the presentation of fact. 

Now, in what has been said of baptism, there may have 
been a mixture of truth and fact ; but every point that has 
been presented as a topic is distinctly matter of fact. If, in 
connection with these facts, truths have been uttered, so also 
there may have been intermixture of error ; and some of the 
inferences drawn from the facts may not have been drawn 
correctly. But in the facts themselves there can be no error; 
nor, I presume, will the statement of them be disputed. Let 
us recapitulate them. 1. It is a fact, that baptism was the 
initial of the ministry of Jesus Christ. 2. It is Sifad, that he 
closed his ministry as he began it, — with baptism. 3. It is a 
fact, that the record of his last conversation on earth shows 
specific mention of this duty and of no other. 4. It is a fact, 
that this is the only duty which we are required to perform 
in the name of the Trinity. 5. It is a fact, that once only 
was Godhead displayed to earth in triune character, and that 
this was done on the occasion of baptism. 6. It is a fact, 
that baptism is classed in the Scriptures with things of most 
tremendous import and of infinite dignity. 7. It is a fact, 
that the baptism of Christ was essential to the fulfillment of 
all righteousness. 8. It is a fact, that baptism is the only 
duty of which one single moment in the life of an immortal 
being has a monopoly. 

Whatever may be thought of the inferences that have 
been drawn, the facts are immovable. Statement of truth 



180 The Old Theology. 

might be disputed, for there might be difference of opinion as 
to what is truth ; but there can be no difference of opinion as 
to the /ads. The facts are their own witnesses ; they speak 
for themselves. 

In forming theories on baptism, if one disregards these 
facts, he is not even building a house on the sand ; he is try- 
ing to build in the air. On the other hand, a theory which 
is built on the facts, — on these solid rocks, — is worthy of this 
respect at least, that it is built on a good foundation. 

Why not apply the principles of the Baconian Philosophy 
to the interpretation of Scripture, and take the facts as 
starting-points ? With these facts spread out before the eyes 
of mankind, it is surprising that any should think of baptism 
as a thing of small importance, and so signally undervalue 
that which God has so signally honored. It is equally 
astonishing that any should incline to overrate that which it 
would almost seem cannot be overrated. Not satisfied with 
the exalted rank which the facts of Scripture accord to 
baptism, they must even go farther, and (incredible to relate) 
claim for it something more; they claim for it the power of 
regenerating the soul, which belongs only to the Holy Spirit ; 
or, if not so wildly extreme as this, they claim that it is the 
means by w'hich the Holy Ghost renews the soul, thus sub- 
stituting the mere water used in baptism for the truth of the 
word, and for the blood of the covenant. 

Let us avoid both extremes ; and let us remember that 
the fact that baptism holds high rank as duty, gives it no 
rank whatever, and no place, as the ground-work or means of 
our salvation. Christ is our righteousness. His blood cleanses 
from all sin. Neglect of baptism must be sin ; and failure 
to hold it in proper esteem must be sin; but the precious 
blood of the Lamb of God has power to wash away all sin. 
I^ o sin is so great as to defy the power of the blood of the 
everlasting covenant. Christ is all; Christ is enough. If 



Baptism in the Christian System. 181 

any man be in Christ, whether baptized or not, he is a new 
creature. If any man be not in Christ, whether baptized or 
not, his doom is perdition. 

Let us thank God that, while our salvation is made secure 
by the merits and mediation of his Son, we are permitted to 
obey his commandments, in keeping of which there is great 
reward. 



Q 



SERMON XI. 

THE JUDGMENT DAY. 

[The history of the following sermon may interest the reader. 
Many years ago an illiterate Negro came to the author one Sunday 
afternoon and begged him to " 'splain de Scriptur" to him. The 
request was somewhat vague, and rather broad ; nevertheless, the 
ISTew Testament was taken up, and the twenty-fifth chapter of the 
Gospel by Matthew was read. In commenting on it, most of the 
leading thoughts in the following sermon occurred to the author for 
the first time. He was surprised to see so many things that he never 
saw before ; he afterwards wrote them out ; and here they are :] 

"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy 
angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory ; and 
before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them 
one from another, as a shepherd divideth Ms sheep from the goats : 
and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the 
left. 

"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye 
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
foundation of the world : For I was a hungered, and ye gave me 
meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a stranger, and ye 
took me in : naked, and ye clotlied me : I was sick, and ye yisited 
me : I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 

" Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we 
thee a hungered, and fed theef or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and 
clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came 
unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them. Verily I 
say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of 
these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 

** Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand. Depart from 

me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 

angels: for I was a hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was 

thirsty and ye gave me no drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me 

182 



The Judgment Day. 183 

not in : naked, and ye clothed me not : sick, and in prison, and ye 
visited me not. 

"Then shall they also answer him, saying. Lord, when saw we 
thee a hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in 
prison, and did not minister unto thee? 

"Then shall he answer them, saying, Yerily I say unto you, Inas- 
much as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to 
me. 

"And these shall go away into everlasting punishment : but the 
righteous into life eternal. "—Matthew xxv. 31-46. 

The first lesson that we learn from this passage is that 
there is to be a Day of Judgment. There is to be an 
occasion, which we call a day, when Jesus Christ, who is here 
called the Son of man, will appear to make the official and 
final award to each member of the human race, of his ever- 
lasting destiny. He will appear " in glory," and will be 
accompanied by " all the holy angels " ; he will sit on a 
"throne," and will exercise royal functions, and hence is 
called "The King." Before him will be "gathered all 
nations," that is, all people of all nations. Our first parents, 
who dwelt in Eden, will be there, and every one of their 
descendants, down to the last new-born child, who hast just 
drawn its first breath. The King will divide them into two 
classes, and will announce his final decree to each. 

Many years after our Lord had spoken these words, a 
vision of the scene described was vouchsafed to our brother, 
the Apostle John, whose record is but repetition, in effect, of 
what our Saviour had said. "And I saw a great white 
throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and 
the heaven fled away ; and there was found no place for 
them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before 
God ; and the books were opened : and another book was 
opened, which is the hook of life : and the dead were judged 
out of those thino-s which were written in the books, accordino: 
to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in 
it ; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in 



184 The Old Tiieology. 

them : and they were judged every man according to their 
works." — Revelation xx. 11-13. 

We should not have been informed of this sublime and 
awful event, which is to transpire at the grand summing up 
for eternity of all human affairs and destinies, unless it had 
been intended that the knowledge of it should affect our 
thoughts, our feelings, our character, and our conduct. So 
great a thing as this must surely have been intended to be an 
ever present and potent factor in all our being. The man 
who bears it constantly in mind will be a far better man than 
he who forgets it. It is impossible that the consideration of 
such a thing should not give complexion to character. The 
sense of responsibility, of accountability, which it awakens ; 
the assurance of public approval or condemnation by the 
Judge of all the earth, before the assembled universe, must 
tend to make any man circumspect and sober. One must be 
more or less than human not to be profoundly affected, and 
that for the better, by considerations so important and so 
solemn. Good men anticipate the great day with awe, it is 
true, but not with dread. Bad men either dismiss it from 
their thoughts, or try to make it appear that such a day will 
never come. But if the very thought of it cannot be borne 
now, when it is at a distance, how can the thing itself be 
endured when it becomes real ? The spirit which now 
prompts to denial of the coming of that day, is but the begin- 
ning of that of which the call on the mountains and on the 
rocks to hide will be the close. 

But we should be of all men most miserable if we knew 
merely the fact that there is to be such a day, without knoAv- 
ing the principles of adjudication on which its decisions are 
to be rendered. These are taught in many places in the 
New Testament, but nowhere more strikingly than in the 
passage before us. We learn much from what the King says 
to those before him, and we learn as much from their replies 



The Judgment Day. 185 

to him ; but we must be careful to take the whole colloquy 
together, as part of it would teach us only a part of what wo 
ought to know ; and a half-truth is sometimes as misleading 
as falsehood itself. 

The blessed of the Father are invited to "come," that is, 
to join with him who speaks; and are invited to " inherit," 
that is, to enter into the inheritance of a " kingdom." The 
word inherit implies a right ; a right not that moment estab- 
lished, but a right which existed before ; a right which exists, 
not bv virtue of leo-al decision, but in the nature of things. 
The "sons of God" (1 John ii. 2), the "joint heirs with 
Christ" (Rom. viii. 17), come to their possessions by natural 
descent. The kingdom was "prepared" by the Father for 
them " before the foundation of the world." Their right is 
very ancient, the most ancient of all rights. Precisely what 
is meant by the word kingdom we do not know ; but we know 
that it implies supreme exaltation, and that if it was prepared 
by Omnipotence, in eternity, for the Son of God and his 
brethren, it must exceed, in grandeur and glory, all powers 
of human thought. Hence no description is given ; and the 
word kingdom is used to stand for that which by reason of its 
excellence and splendor can be neither uttered nor conceived. 
The ground on which the invitation is based appears now 
to be given. " Inherit the kingdom, for" that is, became, " I 
was a hungered, and ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty, and 
ye gave me drink ; naked, and ye clothed me ; I was sick, 
and ye visited me ; I was in prison, and ye came unto me." 
These expressions cannot be literally true of all to whom 
they are addressed, for there will be very few of them who 
ever saw Christ in person, or who ever had an opportunity to 
minister to his individual, physical wants. These must then 
be generic expressions, intended to stand for and represent 
good deeds, — good deeds of any kind. Acts of benevolence to 
the poor, or to those who are not poor ; endeavors to sus- 

Q2 



186 The Old Theology. 

tain or to spread the truth in person or by proxy ; efforts to 
do good of any kind, must be included. He who builds or 
helps to build a house for the worship of God prepares a 
home for Jesus Christ, and thus has "taken him in;" and 
let this statement illustrate all that is meant. 

These deeds of righteousness seem to be the basis of the 
invitation. But this can be only in a secondary sense ; for 
the kingdom was prepared, and prepared for them, for those 
persons, and for no others, and was prepared long before these 
excellent deeds were done; and, in fact, before the world was 
made. This statement is part of what the King says, and 
must be taken in the connection in which he places it. The 
same is to be observed as to the deeds of righteousness ; they 
too must be taken in their connections. The invitation is to 
enter into an inheritance which was theirs before, and of 
which the deeds were but -evidences of ownership. The exhi- 
bition of a title-deed does not give a man a right to property; 
it merely shows the woild that he has the right. A judge 
might say to a litigant, "This property is yours, because you 
have the deed," but the fact in the case would be that the liti- 
gant has the deed because the property is his. Further light 
on this point will appear as we proceed. But we must stop to 
consider that, w'hatever may be the relation of good deeds 
to salvation, honorable mention will be made of them by the 
King of kings and Lord of lords, on a grand occasion of eter- 
nity, on the grandest occasion, so far as the human race is con- 
cerned, that can ever occur. Things w'hich seem to be very 
insiofnificant now will not be so then. So small a thins: as 
the gift of a cup of cold water may appear in that day to be 
resplendent with glory. ' 

But the sons of God and joint heirs with Christ, who are 
here called " the righteous," will answer and say : " Lord, 
when saw we thee a hungered, and fed thee; or thirsty, and 
gave thee drink; or naked, and clothed thee?" These ex- 



The Judgment Day. 187 

pressions, and the others of the same kind, are interrogatory 
in form, but categorical in fact. The case is as where a state- 
ment of fact is made by one person to another, and the latler 
does not remember the fact ; he does not deny the statement, 
but asks: "When did it occur?" Thus, from the answer 
which the righteous give, we learn that they have no recol- 
lection of having done any of the things with which they are 
credited ; and ^his shows that they never attached any im- 
portance to them from the first. A man on trial, and es- 
pecially on trial for his life, never forgets the strong points in 
his own case ; and if he knows of anv fact that will make in 
his favor, he is sure to make it conspicuous. These had not 
only forgotten the facts, but were unable to recall them even 
when reminded of them, and not only reminded, but assured 
that they were true. It is manifest that at no time had they 
based their expectations on what they had done ; for if they 
had ever thought of such a thinof at all, they would be sure 
to think of it then — ^then when the supreme crisis had come. 
Yet "these all died in hope." On what did they base their 
hopes? The answer to this question may be found in many 
places in Scripture; but this passage teaches, with an em- 
phasis, on what they did not base them ; and this is enough 
to sweep the world away, and to show that their hope was 
built on another foundation. Here then is God's model man. 
He is one who leads a life of benevolence, of activity in good 
deeds, of consecration to the glory of his God, and to the 
good of his fellow-men, but who lays no stress on it, builds no 
hopes on it, has nothing to say about it, forgets it, but still 
lives and dies in hope ! His song would be : 

My hope is built on nothing less 
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness ! 
1 dare not trust the sweetest frame, 
But wholly lean on Jesus' name. 
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand, 
All other ground is sinking sand ! 



188 The Old Theology. 

The King now turns to the left hand and says : " Depart 
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the 
devil and his angels; for I was a hungered, and ye gave me 
no meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink ; I was a 
stranger, and ye took me not in ; naked, and ye clothed me 
not ; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not." It is 
worthy of our most earnest notice, that they are denounced 
not for what they had done, but for what they had not done. 
No sin of positive nature is even mentioned; the frightful 
indictment is a series of negations ; in effect, only one sin is 
mentioned — the sin of neglect. Why should this be ? Per- 
haps it is because our sins of omission, as they are called, 
outnumber immensely, and beyond, all calculation, our sins 
of commission ; perhaps it is because the one sin of neglecting 
the great salvation carries with it all other sins. Our con- 
victions of sin are chiefly for what we do that is wrong. 
God's conviction of us is for what we have failed to do, that 
is right. 

We notice, too, that the fire to which they are condemned 
was " prepared," but not for them. It was prepared " for the 
devil and his angels " ; and the wicked have gone headlong, 
and by disobedience, have plunged themselves into a place 
of torment prepared not for them, but for others. It was not 
prepared " from the foundation of the world," an expression 
used to indicate eternity; but for a once glorious but now 
sinful being, who lost his first estate ; and for those who were 
deluded into following him. The " kingdom " was made for 
the saints ; but the wicked find, if they do not make, a hell 
for themselves ; and intrude on the Evil One. 

These reply to the King, and say : " Lord, when saw we 
thee a hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, 
or in prison, and did not minister unto thee ? " This answer, 
like the former, is interrogatory in form, but declaratory in 
fact. These, too, have short memories. They have forgotten 



The Judgment Day. 189 

all their shortcomings. They deny the charges. The inquiry 
of the righteous was respectful, reverential ; they only n)eant 
that they had no remembrance of anything good in them ; it 
is as if they had replied, " iS"ot unto us, O Lord ! not unto us, 
but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy 
truth's sake." The reply of the wicked is impudent ; it casts 
back the imputation in the face of him who made it, and vir- 
tually accuses him of falsehood and of injustice. These are 
the self-righteous ones, who see no harm in themselves, and 
who imas^ine that their o-ood works are to be their saviours. 
They are elsewhere represented by our Lord, as saying: 
'•' Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name ? and in 
thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many 
wonderful works ? " Matt. vii. 22. 

We see that, at the judgment day, human nature will be 
just what it is now. Those who have done the most will say 
the least, and those who have done the least will say the most. 
Those who might expect, if anybody could, to be saved by 
works, will be the last to speak of them or to think of them ; 
while those who have not the least right to expect anything 
on this ground speak of nothing else, and think of nothing 
else. Both parties will be taken by surprise ; some because 
their merits are mentioned, the others because their merits 
are not mentioned. There are those who tell us of their 
morals, and of their many virtues, and who say : "Aha ! I 
am a better man than many members of your church." The 
insolence of such will not forsake them even when they come 
to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The filthy will 
be filthy still ; and if they were admitted to the kingdom, 
they would have no sympathy for the saints, as they have 
none here, and would find no sympathy ; and they would not 
enjoy the place, and would not stay in it; they would go of 
their own accord, as they are going now, to the place pre- 
pared, not for them, but for the devil and his angels — a place 



190 The Old Theology. 

for which they have fitted themselves. Heaven is a prepared 
place for a prepared people. In each case the preparing is 
of God. Hell is a prepared place for a prepared people. 
The place was prepared of God for the devil and his angels ; 
the preparing of the people for the place not prepared for 
them is their own. 

A most remarkable peculiarity of the announcement of 
the King to the righteous is this : that he mentions all the 
good of their lives, but none of the bad. Why is this ? Is it 
because there is no bad to mention? Yes, for that very 
reason. Not that they were not sinners once, but that they 
are not sinners now. Some of them have been thieves, and 
liars, and adulterers, and murderers. Some of them perhaps 
once cried: "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Some of them 
perhaps actually took part in the murder of the Prince of 
life, and stained their hands with the very blood that washed 
away their sin. They were sinners, but they are not ; they 
are as though they had never been sinners. Their sins are 
washed away. A flood, as deep as the eternal love of God, 
has swept them into everlasting oblivion. Their guilt is 
washed away. Their souls are cleansed from its contamina- 
tion. They are purified ; they are sanctified ; they are as fit 
for nearness to the throne as Gabriel, who stands in the 
presence of God ; they are one with Christ ; one with him, 
even as he and the Father are one. Once they needed 
pardon and forgiveness ; but these are blessings of the past ; 
they have something better now, they are sanctified, they are 
glorified. Of what use would be mention of sin ? There is 
no sin. 

In this life we are tormented with the memory of former 
sins. The transgressions of early years come crowding back 
upon us, hateful even to think of, trampling on our very 
hearts; the sins, still more inexcusable, of youth and early 
manhood, and of later years, crush us to the very dust; but 



The Judgment Day. 191 

there is a good time coming, w.ien we shall hear the last of 
it. When the Judge of all the earth has declared us " Not 
guilty," there will be none to cast aught in our teeth. No 
angel or glorified spirit would dare, or wish, to reverse God's 
grand decree; no evil one will have access to us; our own 
consciences will be purged ; our consciousness will be, that 
we are one with Christ and the Father ; all our memories will 
be made happy ; and if we think of sin, it will only be to see 
that God has brought good out of it, and caused it, with all 
other things, to work together for good to them that love 
God. 

It is sweet to think of heaven as a place of rest ; sweet to 
think of it as the home of the dear spirits of loved ones gone 
before; as the place where we shall meet with Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob; with all the patriarchs, prophets, and 
apostles; with the noble army of martyrs, who have died for 
the testimony of Jesus ; but not the least of the delights of 
its anticipation is this, that there we shall be free from sin, 
free from the stain of it, free from the mention of it, free 
from the memory of it. Heaven indeed it would be if one 
could only get away from his sinful self. This is exactly 
what is in store for us. The King will mention all the good, 
but none of the bad. AYhen God, who charges the angels 
with folly, has no fault to find with us, we shall find no fault 
with ourselves. Oh, bliss ineffable ! 

It is just as noticeable that, in addressing those on the left 
hand, the King mentions all of the bad, and none of the 
good. Why, why is this ? Is it because there is no good to 
mention? None whatever. What! Will there not be in 
the lives of all those millions one single good deed to be 
named? Not one. True, many a one will be there who has 
been a good citizen, upright in his dealings, truthful, honest, 
honorable, amiable in his domestic relations, and kind to all ; 
there may be many a lovely one there, whose walk was one 



192 The Old Theology. 

of daily beauty. Why, then, should these be numbered with 
the wicked, and why should not their vi-rtuous deeds be 
rewarded ? 

No virtue is virtue in the heavenly sense, nor even in the 
earthly sense, when we look at it with clear eyes, unless the 
love of God is at the bottom of it. A heart that is in a state of 
estrangedness from God has something radically wrong about 
it ; it is a bad heart ; and a clean thing cannot come out of 
an unclean. There is a principle w^iich lies back of all 
human motives ; if that principle is the love of God, all is 
right ; if not, all is wrong. The foundation law of all laws 
is that we shall love God supremely ; and no motive, however 
excellent it may seem, which does not have its root in this, 
can bear acceptable fruit. There may be other motives; 
indeed there are ; but if the tap-root does not strike down 
to this, there can be no enduring life. Shallow rooted virtue 
passes for virtue with men, but not with God. He sees that 
at the bottom of the character there is no regard for him. 
We cannot distinguish between a thing, good in itself, which 
comes from a heart ignorant of the love of God, and the 
same tliino; comino- from a heart filled with that love. Our 
sight is superficial ; but if we could see as God sees, we should 
recognize nothing as virtue which does not proceed in its 
earliest beginnings from loving obedience to the most holy 
law of God. The virtue of the amiable unbelievers is but 
natural virtue; it is a portion of our original nature not 
entirely destroyed by sin; and verily, we have reason to 
thank God that he has not allowed it to be entirely de- 
stroyed ; for if it were, we should all torment each other like 
fiends, as indeed some have actually done. This natural 
virtue passes current, oji earth, like pure gold ; but in heaven 
it is base metal. 

Rut even admitting that the good deeds spoken of are 
really virtuous in the highest sense, and this is admitted only 



The Judgment Day. 193 

for the argument, the relation in which an unbeliever stands 
to God is such that nothing that he can do is acceptable. 
He is destitute of faith as well as of love. He is in a state 
of alienation from his Maker ; the parties are at variance — 
not on speaking terms, as we might express it ; and the 
offender must change his position before any service from 
him will be acknowledged. The unbeliever practically dis- 
putes the divine veracity ; not that he has ever uttered words 
to that effect, but that his chronic condition is that of not 
taking God at his word. So long as he occupies this insult- 
ing, this hostile attitude, nothing that he can do is regarded 
as done in the service of God ; and of course nothing can be 
set to his credit as service so rendered. Admitting what is 
not true, that the doing is good in itself, yet as it comes from 
a doer in the condition described, it must o^o for nothins;. 

Everything that a man does bears on it the impress of 
himself, as coin bears the imprimatur of the mint. If he is 
an unbeliever, then unbelief is inscribed on every one of his 
actions. Let us illustrate. A man proposes to make me a 
friendly offering, a most magnificent present — let us say a 
huge disk of pure gold, beset with gems, very splendid and 
immensely valuable — but on that disk he has engraved an 
inscription, an inscription insulting to me and defaming my 
character. If I take the gift, I must take the insult with it; 
I must, in effect, acknowledge the truth of its shameless 
charges, and virtually indorse its lying statements. I could 
never be bribed to trample on my own self-respect, and 
acknowledge, falsely, my own shame. Perish all the gold 
in the world, perish myself, before such humiliation. 

The unbeliever's deeds are not pure gold ; they are nothing 
but base metal, gilded ; still, admit them to be pure gold, and 
they are offered to God. Will he accept them ? There is an 
inscription on them, written there by the very life of him who 
makes the offering; it is in the hand-writing of his heart. 

R 



194 The Old Theology. ' 

^^God is a liar" ! What else can be expected, but that the 
deeds and the doer will be cast into hell ? " God is a liar " ; 
is the expression frightful ? Is the statement unfair ? No- 
body would ever have said it, nobody would ever have 
thought it, if it were not part of the imperishable record 
which God has given us in his word. Read this : " He 
that believeth not God hath made him a liar ; because he 
believeth not the record that God gave of his Son." 1 
John V. 10. "He that believeth not," says Jesus Christ, 
'•'he that believeth not shall be damned." Mark xvi. 16. 
No exception is made of good citizens, nor of amiable kin- 
dred, nor of kind friends. The record is quoted as it stands ; 
and in the record before us, representing the august decisions 
of the last day, when all will be said that ought to be said or 
that can be said, there will be nothing said of any good deed 
done by unbelievers. No service can be rendered by those who 
are not in the service ; and unbelievers are not in the service. 
Another strikino; thino- to be noticed is this: that the 
proceedings of the great day will not be on the principle of 
what we call book-keeping. With us, the debits are entered 
on one side of the ledger, and the credits on the other ; a 
balance is struck, and the difference is set to one side or the 
other of the account. Not so in the judgment. The leaf 
containing the debits against the sons of God will be torn out 
and burned up, and nothing will be left but the credits; 
these will all stand, and besides this, there will be entered up 
in each one's favor, all the credits of the righteousness of 
Christ; a magnificent statement of accounts, truly! As to 
the unbelievers, there will be charged against them all the 
wrong they ever did ; and vastly more than this, all the right 
they ever failed to do ; and there will be nothing to their 
credit, for all they ever paid was in spurious coin, and worse 
than this, coin stamped with the imprimatur of unbelief, and 
makino; God a liar ! A frio-htful exhibit, indeed ! 



The Judgment Day. 195 

lu addition to many other things of great interest and 
value, this chapter teaches us the great love which Christ has 
for his people. When any kindness is shown to any one of 
them, he makes a personal matter of it, and declares that it 
is exactly the same as if the kindness had been shown to 
himself. " / was a hungered, and ye gave me meat ; / was 
thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; / was sick, and ye visited 
me;" and when the date, or occasion, of all this goodness is 
asked for, he says : " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto 
one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto 
me." He makes no distinction between himself and his 
brethren. It is a happy thought, that he who died to save 
us, eighteen hundred years ago, remembers us, and loves us, 
and takes notice of any service rendered to us in time of 
need, taking it home to himself, as if rendered to him in 
person ; and that he will not only remember, but mention it 
at the last day. How exalted the position of the believer, in 
being thus acknowledged by the Christ of God as being a 
part of himself, and that too even now and here, before the 
day of final exaltation comes ! 

We learn, too, that in this lower world we have some bril- 
liant opportunities, such as heaven itself does not afford. We 
can minister to the personal wants of Jesus Christ. An angel 
once did the same thing, coming from heaven to Gethsemane 
to wait on the Lord Jesus. (Luke xxii. 43.) We sometimes 
almost envy those who lived in the time of Christ, for the 
pleasure and the honor which they had in personal ministra- 
tions to the Lord of life. Oh, if we could but have drawn 
that bucket of water at the Avell in Samaria! Oh, if we 
could but have bought for him that precious ointment in that 
alabaster box ! Our tears start at the very thought of it. 
The very least service that we could possibly have rendered 
would have been remembered as the greatest epoch in life. 
We have the very same opportunity now. Wherever there 



196 The Old Theology. 

is a sick saint, there is a sick Saviour: wherever there is a 
suffering saint, there is a suffering Saviour. " I was sick, and 
ye visited me." Stand by the bedside and look on your 
Lord. Bathe that aching brow, and it is as if you had 
bathed the pierced temples. Take the healing balm, or the 
cooling draught, or the nourishing viand, to your wounded, 
hungering, thirsting, suffering Saviour. See him shivering 
with cold, and supply the needed garment. " / was naked, 
and ye clothed ??ie." Away with those rags, and supply de- 
cency and comfort to the Lord of all the worlds. Soothe the 
heart of that sorrowing mourner, and be what the angel was 
in the garden, a minister to the Son of God. Is Christ in 
distress ? Oh, the rapture of being able to render him suc- 
cor ! He is here ; hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, in prison ; 
here, impersonated in his saints ; for he says, " Inasmuch as 
ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye 
have done it unto me;" and if he makes no difference, we 
should make none. Oh, glorious opportunity ! Oh, blessed 
privilege! Oh, exalted honor! Rather this than wear a 
crown or rule an empire ! 

Really, our position and opportunities are better than 
those enjoyed by the personal attendants on our Lord. We 
have no occasion to envy them ; the tide of envy should run 
the other way. They saw the gentle Saviour, they looked 
upon him with their eyes, and with their hands they handled 
of the Word of life. 1 John i. 1. They had the magnetism 
of his presence ; they heard his loving words, and were wit- 
nesses of his mighty works. To wait on him was an easy 
task. We see no Saviour, no majesty, no loveliness ; we see 
nothing but ordinary mortals like ourselves ; often with noth- 
ing to admire or attract ; often with much that is repulsive ; 
often with squalor and ra^ and wretchedness. It is no 
pleasant thing to carry out the behests of charity. If Christ 
is there, we do not see him ; we must take his word for it. 



The Judgment Day. 197 

We have his word for it. " Inasmuch as ye have done it 
unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it 
unto me." We take his word for it, and we take it with joy, 
and nothing doubting. The Marys, and Martha, and Jo- 
anna, and Salome, walked by sight; we walk by faith. 
What they did on the spot, we do at two thousand years 
distance. Because they saw, they believed ; blessed are we 
" who have 7iot seen, and yet have believed." John xx. 29. 
It was himself whom they served, himself visible and tangi- 
ble; it is himself whom we serve, but he is invisible and 
intangible ; what we see and handle is often loathsome to 
behold, and sickening to the touch. What they did without 
sacrifice, we are permitted to do with sacrifice — a nobler 
work, and one which will meet with higher reward. In some 
wretched hovel, there lies on a filthy couch an emaciated 
human horror. O Jesus, art thou here ? " Inasmuch as ye 
have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye 
have done it unto me." Let me fall to my knees, and thank 
God for the privilege. 

Another sweet lesson is suggested by the passage before 
us. There is peculiar value in a visit. Oftentimes, what the 
sorrowing want is not yours, but you. They have no need 
of your benefactions, or if they have, this is not all their need. 
They want something better than any gift that can be be- 
stowed. They want your presence, the grasp of your hand, 
the light of your eye, the sunbeam of your smile, the sound 
of your voice. A man seems to have a more comforting 
opinion of himself, when somebody respects him enough, and 
thinks enough of him, to visit him. Sympathy is sweet, and 
a word spoken in season, how good is it ! Organized charity 
is necessary and good, but personal service, when possible, is 
better. Oftentimes, it is not charity that is needed; it is 
sympathy, friendship, love, cheering words of truth — heart- 
soothers, faith-strengtheners, hope-brighteners. It is not only 

R2 



198 The Old Theology. 

in the hovels of the poor that Christ is found. In stately 
chambers where wealth abounds, there may be meek and 
loving disciples. Their spirits are just as human as others ; 
they need support, and encouragement, and comfort. A 
kindly visit, that takes a warm heart to lay alongside of a 
bruised one, will not be forgotten when the King shall say, 
" I was sick, and ye visited me ; I was in prison, and ye came 
unto me. Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of 
these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me" 

The last lesson taught in this passage is that the happiness 
of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked will last 
forever. Unlearned persons sometimes suppose that because 
the word everlasting is used in describing the punishment of 
the wicked, while the word eternal is applied to the reward 
of the righteous, there must be some difference in the dura- 
tion referred to. In the original language, the same word is 
used in both instances ; and in the Revised Version it is 
translated by one word in English, as it ought to have been 
at first. In that Version, the text is correctly rendered 
thus: "And these shall go away into eternal punishment; 
but the righteous into eternal life." But aside from this as a 
proof-text, what is the drift of this passage of sixteen verses, 
taken as a whole? Does not the whole spirit of it teach that 
the decrees of that day are to be final ? Is there to be any 
higher court of appeal? Is there the least hint of a new 
trial ? Is there to be any reversal of the words, " Come, ye 
blessed," or of the words, "Depart, ye cursed"? Admitting 
that the judgment is final, what are the facts that take place? 
and what are the words used ? The assembled muhitude is 
divided into two classes. Why divide them ? Some are set 
on the right hand and some on the left. Why? Some are 
compared to sheep ; others to animals of a wholly different 
nature. Why? To some the King says, " Come ! " to others 
he says, "Depart!" Do these words mean the same thing? 



The Judgment Day. 199 

Some are called "blessed"; others are called "cursed." 
Docfc, this mean anything? and if so, what? Many good 
deeds are ascribed to some, and no bad ; many bad deeds are 
ascribed to others, and no good. Is there any significance in 
this? The place to which some of them are invited and 
welcomed is a kingdom, prepared for them from the founda- 
tion of the world ; others are consigned, with a curse, to fire, 
prepared for the enemies of God and man. Does it appear 
from this, that the future of the parties is to be the same ? 
The character of the two parties is diflTerent ; their relation to 
God is different ; their history has been different ; their con- 
duct on the day of trial is different; for, while some are 
humble and self-abased, and astonished that anything good 
should be said of them, others are impudent and self-righteous 
to the last, and astonished that their merits are not published 
and applauded. If in every respect they are different up to 
the last supreme moment, will they not always be so? Ought 
not their destinies to be different? If the last verse, the 
proof-text, were wanting, the rest of the chapter would still 
teach its doctrine. But, says one : " The whole chapter is a 
mere figure of speech." The woid mere comes in with a bad 
grace. It is immaterial whether the chapter be a figure of 
speech or not. The things which it teaches are no figure of 
speecli. It teaches, among other things, that those who differ 
in their relation to God, and who have diflfered in their 
whole history, character, and conduct, up to the last day, 
when all human accounts shall be closed, will be different in 
their destiny, and diff*erent forever; and that belief and un- 
belief, the key-notes to moral status, will each be assigned its 
appropriate reward. 



SERMON XII. 

THE CALL OF THE SPIRIT. 

"To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts."— 
Hebrews iii. 15. 

I LET us notice, in the first place, from whom it is that 
• this language proceeds. The text occurs twice in the 
chapter from which it is taken, once at the seventh verse, 
and once at the fifteenth verse; it also occurs in the seventh 
verse of the next chapter ; and in all three instances it is 
quoted from the ninety-fifth Psalm. It is represented as the 
language of the Almighty ; and the writer of the Epistle to 
the Hebrews takes special pains to make this point prominent. 
In the first instance in which he quotes the text, he says: 
"Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith. To-day if ye will 
hear his voice, harden not your hearts." It is perhaps the 
only instance in which the Old Testament is quoted in the 
New Testament in this impressive and solemn way. So we 
may consider the words as having in an especial manner the 
awful sanction of the Holy Ghost. It is almost more than a 
message from God to us ; it is as if the Holy Ghost himself, 
the third Person of the adorable Trinity, had- himself in 
person addressed our souls. With devout spirils, full of 
reverence and godly fear, let us consider what the Holy 
Ghost saith to us : " To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden 
not your hearts." 

11. But are these words addressed to all of us? Not 
necessarily. The second point then to be considered is this: 
To whom is the text addressed? It seems to be addressed to 
200 



The Call of the Spirit. 201 

those who are described by the expression : "If ye will hear 
his voice " ; that is, if you intend ever to hear his voice, if 
you intend, or expect, or hope, at some future day, to hear 
his voice ; that is to obey it, to accept Christ as your Saviour, 
and to walk in his footsteps, — you belong to the class of 
persons addressed. But if you have made up your mind, 
if you have decided finally without possibility of change, 
that you never will obey his voice ; if you are determined to 
live and die in disregard of his word, — then the admonition 
is not addressed to you. The text will certainly bear the 
interpretation that I have put upon it ; but if the exegesis be 
wrong, the words may still be used in this sense, for the 
thought conveyed is Scriptural. Many are the calls which 
the Holy Ghost makes on unconverted men. This surely 
must be one of them ; but if not, the words are still appro- 
priate as addressed to such. There are some whom the Holy 
Ghost passes by, and says of them : " Ephraim is joined to 
his idols ; let him alone." If there be any here whom God 
has determined to let alone, I have nothing to say to them. 
Those who have determined that they never will hear his 
voice give the strongest possible evidence that they belong to 
this chiss; to the class of wretched people, whom God has 
abandoned. If there be any such persons present, I make 
no appeal to them. I " let them alone." I do not ask them 
to listen to what I say. 

Probably most of those present who have not already heard 
the voice of the Lord and obeyed it, do really expect, at some 
future time, when they " get ready," or when circumstances 
are favorable, to listen to the claims of the gospel. Hence 
my discourse will be appropriate to nearly all the uncon- 
verted who hear me. Indeed, J trust that every ear will be 
attentive, and every heart open to the truth. 

III. Wh. t is it that the text says ? It warns those whom 
it addresses not to harden their hearts. What is meant by 



202 The Old Theology. 

hardening the heart ? When the word heart is used in this 
way, it means our moral feelings ; and the word hard used in 
this connection is, of course, a figure of speech. The literal 
sense of the word explains its figurative application. A thing 
is hard when it is not easily impressed. A seal or stamp may 
be pressed on a piece of iron or flint, and it will leave no 
mark ; let the same seal be pressed upon a soft substance, like 
wax, and it leaves its mark, and the impression on the wax 
will correspond exactly to the seal. Now God's truth is the 
seal which ought to make an impression on our feelings. But 
I have seen persons sit under the gospel when its most awful 
truths were set forth, and it made no more impression on them 
than on the walls. I have seen the most glorious promises of 
the gospel proclaimed in such terms as I would suppose must 
thrill every heart ; but there sat men and women, with im- 
mortal souls to save, as indifferent and as apathetic as the 
brutes that perish. There may be persons in this house who, 
if all the terrors of the wrath of God, and all the glories of the 
heaven of heavens, and all the vileness of sin, and all the 
beauty of holiness, and all the goodness of God, were pro- 
claimed in such glowing eloquence that no angel could ap- 
proach it, would nevertheless be utterly unconcerned, and 
would not remember for one hour one word they had heard. It 
would seem that there are some whom neither the thunders of 
Sinai nor the songs of the redeemed could keep awake. They 
have been hearing the gospel all their lives, and are now and 
have always been as listless as if the words had no meaning. 
Their hearts are hard. God be merciful to thera. 

There are others, probably a much larger class, who do re- 
ceive some impression from the truth, and whose feelings are 
somewhat affected by it. But they have not received the 
right impression ; and, while reception of truth makes one 
happy, yet a partial reception of it, or a reception mixed with 
error, may have the opposite effect ; doubtless many a man 



The Call of the Spirit. 203 

has received just enough of the truth to make him miserable. 
The heart of such a man is like "wax and stone mincjled 
together, but the stone predominates. The seal is applied and 
it makes an impression on the part like wax, but not on the 
part which is like stone. Such a man bears not the full 
gospel impress, but only a small part of it. There are 
others ao^ain whose hearts are like wax and stone mino-led 
together, but the wax predominates. They have received 
much of the gospel impress, but not all. The impression 
is interrupted and defaced by the stony part, which received 
none. These, perhaps, are they who are " almost persuaded," 
and who miss eternal life when it is within arm's reach of 
them, and who fall into the bottomless pit from the very 
threshold of heaven. 

If a man's heart is 7iot hard, that is, if his feelings are in 
a proper state, God's word will make on him exactly the 
impression that it ought to make. And what is that? He 
will^hate sin; he will be overcome with a sense of personal 
guilt ; he will be willing to renounce sin ; he will feel a 
crushing sense of his own unworthiness and helplessness ; he 
will renounce self-rio-hteousness, and hansj on sovereio^n grrace 
for life ; he will joyfully trust and confide in Jesus Christ ; 
he will be grateful to God ; he will love God ; and will love 
the word of God, and the ways of God, and the house of 
God, and the people of God ; and will take delight in serv- 
ing God and in keeping his commandments ; and will rejoice 
in the coming of the Redeemer's kingdom, and will help to 
hasten its coming, not merely as a duty, but as a privilege; 
not reluctantly, but of choice, and with joy. 

If a man feels as I have described, he may know that the 
gospel has made the right impression on him, and, if he has 
not already announced his feelings to the world, it is his duty 
to do so instantly. But if a man has never had such feel- 
ings as these, in greater or less degree, he may know that he 



204 The Old Theology. 

has not received the gospel imprint. His heart is hard, and 
he is still in his sins. He " is condemned already, because he 
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of 
God." And "he that belie veth not the Son shall not see life; 
but the wrath of God abideth on him." 

IV. Having shown what is meant by hardness of heart, 
let us now see how it is that one gets into this condition. It 
is done by his own act. The Holy Ghost saith, " Harden not 
your hearts." The verb is transitive, and imperative. You 
are told not to do a certain thing, and this implies that the 
thing, if done, is of your own doing. If your heart is hard, 
it is you who have made it so. Perhaps you will say that it 
is hard by nature. Be it so ; but you have been making it 
harder and harder every day, and are probably doing it 
now. Your heart is probably in worse condition at this very 
moment than it ever was before ; for the tendency of it is to 
increase in hardness. It is more probable that the gospel 
should have made its full and right impression on you last 
week than now, because now it has had one more week's 
hardening. Perhaps you think that there is very little prob- 
ability of your being brought into the kingdom of Christ 
to-night; that may be so; but it would seem to be more 
likely to-night than it will ever be again. The present oppor- 
tunity is, in the nature of things, the best you will ever have ; 
for by to-morrow you will have had one more day's harden- 
ing ; and the next day will make it still harder ; and so will 
the next, and the next, as long as you live. A piece of clay 
when soft may be easily impressed ; but suppose that, without 
making any active eifort to harden it, we merely let it alone ; 
it will of itself become harder ; the quiet, but steady, opera- 
tion of natural causes will be sure to do the work ; in a few 
days it will get almost to the turning point, when impressi- 
bility ceases. One more day will finish the w^ork. So with 
your heart. It has been getting harder every day for years 



The Call of the Spirit. 205 

past ; it is getting harder now ; one more day may fix its 
state forever. Under the very appeal that I am this mo- 
ment making your heart will be hardened, unless, indeed, 
you yield at once to gospel impressions. It is impossible that 
I should leave you as I found you. You will be the better 
or the worse for what you have heard ; and the same is true 
of every sermon that you hear, and of every religious influ- 
ence that is brought to bear upon you. It would, perhaps, 
be a hard thing for you to make a total surrender to Jesus 
Christ to-night. But it is an easier thing to do now than it 
will ever be again ; to let the night pass without a change is 
to give up your best chance (if such a word as chance may 
be used), and your chances are growing less with every 
breath you draw. God be merciful to the gray-haired sin- 
ners. God be merciful to all. Even the youth in his teens 
may be old in sin. 

I have said that the hardening of the heart is your own 
doing. Let us inquire how you have done it. You have done 
it, not with the deliberate intention of destroying your soul. 
I suppose no man has ever done such a thing. In the thir- 
teenth verse of the chapter whence our text is taken, we find 
this expression : " Lest any of you be hardened through the 
deceitfulness of sin." From this we seem to learn that, what- 
ever the various methods of hardening the hea«rt may be, the 
deceitfulness of sin lies at the bottom of them all. In each 
instance in which you have hardened your heart, you have 
been the victim of this deceitfulness. You have imagined that 
you could do wrong without fatal result, and perhaps without 
great injury, and possibly without great risk; and that if 
damage should accrue, you could find some way to recupe- 
rate. You have always looked to eventual escape. Do you 
not see that all this is a fraud ? And is it not strange, that 
Satan can persuade men to believe that they can take fire 
into their bosoms and not be burned ? Some of these frauds 

s 



206 The Old Theology. 

which Satan has practiced on you, and which, having taken 
them at second hand from him, you have practiced on your- 
self, I proceed to expose. 

1. I observe in the first place, that the heart is hardened by 
resisting good impulses. Your intention has been that this 
resistance should be only temporary, not that it should con- 
tinue to the last ; and here is where the fraud comes in. You 
have perhaps felt a disposition, or a sort of half disposition 
at least, to yield yourself up to the claims of the gospel, and 
to do, and to be, all that it requires of you. If you had 
yielded to this impulse, all woula have been well. But you 
resisted it. Conscience told you that you were wrong, but 
you stifled the voice of conscience. Perhaps after a time your 
feelings were again aroused by an appeal from the pulpit or 
from a friend. Conscience told you that you ought to 
surrender, but you choked it down again. Perhaps after 
awhile some of God's providences, the sudden death of a 
friend, or a narrow escape, or a dangerous illness, alarmed 
you ; or perhaps some touching appeal was made to you in a 
kind word or two, but full of meaning, from a pious father, 
or mother, or pastor, or friend. Conscience told you to give 
up, but you choked it down again, — stabbed it this time, and 
trampled it under foot. Now do you not see that every time 
conscience is choked down in this way, its power is weakened? 
Every stab that you give it lets out some of its life-blood, and 
diminishes its energy. You well know that your conscience 
does not affect you so strongly to-day, as it did years ago, 
when you seemed to be a far better person than you are 
to-day. Your conscience is growing weaker, and it will con- 
tinue to decline; and will decline more rapidly as years 
advance. Perhaps now you can scarcely hear its voice. To- 
wards the last it may give another whisper, and you may 
give it another stab — a stab to the heart this time, and it will 
never speak again. Many a man has reached such a condi- 



The Call of the Spirit. 207 

tion that he has not heard his conscience whisper for years. 
Are you in that state? Then no appeal affects you. You 
see others concerned for their souls, and weeping for their 
sins, and they seem to you to be guilty of great folly, or of 
puerile or effeminate weakness. To see a man penitent or 
contrite either leaves you wholly indifferent, or else it disgusts 
you. Your heart is thoroughly hardened; you have done 
your work effectually. 

In many cases, perhaps in most cases, you have hardened 
your heart when you had no intention of doing so, and when 
you were not aware what you were doing. Let me illustrate. 
When a piece of iron is heated very hot it becomes soft, and 
if plunged immediately into cold water, it becomes suddenly 
hard. So with your feelings. Sometimes they are warmed 
up by some sanctified and sanctifying process; and if you 
would keep them under that influence, it would be well. 
But you plunge into the cold world, immerse yourself in its 
business or its pleasure, withdrawing your thoughts altogether 
from serious things ; and your feelings instantly become cold, 
and your heart hard. Every time you repeat this process your 
heart becomes harder, until finally it turns into steel. Thus 
even legitimate business, or legitimate pleasure, may be so 
engao^ed in as to exclude all religious thought. To refuse to 
yield to a religious impulse is to resist it ; thus not to act is 
to act ; and the mere putting off of religion for the sake of 
business, with no intention of rejecting the gospel altogether, 
may by degrees so harden a man's heart, as to make him 
wholly and forever unimpressible. 

2. But I mention another way in which you harden your 
heart. It is by speculative inquiry. What ! is religious in- 
quiry injurious? Yes, on certain conditions, nothing can be 
more so. The claims of the gospel are pressed home on your 
conscience, and you do not discard them, nor yet do you 
yield to them ; but by way, as you say, of acting intelligently, 



208 The Old Theology. 

you begin a course of religious inquiry, but it is not such in- 
quiry as can do'any good; it is altogether speculative. You 
hunt up difficult points in theology, and these are as easily 
found in theology as in anything else. There are some dark 
and deep subjects that you must have cleared up, before you 
can give your heart to the Lord. In short, you insist on a 
perfect understanding of every problem that religion involves 
as condition precedent to your acceptance of the gospel. Do 
you not perceive the fraud? Do you not see that you are 
deluded by the deceitfulness of sin? Do you not see that 
this is equivalent to indefinite postponement ? Yet you busy 
yourself, and perhaps annoy your friends, with trying to 
unravel the mysteries of eternity, and make this an ex- 
cuse for the neglect of present duty ; and meanwhile are 
perhaps clamorous for practical preaching. Deceived by 
sin again ! The real trouble is, not that the preaching 
is not practical, but that it is practical; and that is 
the very ground of your objection to it. "Son, give me 
thy heart," is the burden of our ministry. Is not that 
practical? Yes, and that is exactly what you are not 
willing to do. But you are willing to discuss the origin 
of evil, or any other question, when you are sure that the 
discussion will end in nothing, it is common to describe 
such a man as this by saying that he is a hard case ; and such 
indeed he is. No scheme ever devised by Satan is more 
hardening to the heart, and nothing puts a man farther out of 
reach of all saving influences. This is the way in which in- 
tellectual men often commit soul-suicide ; but it is a pity that 
a man should be so intellectual as to destroy his soul. It 
would be better to become as a little child, and accept the 
gospel unquestioningly. Then would real wisdom be im- 
parted in place of that mockery of wisdom with which sin 
has deceived you, and with which you deceive yourself. An 
apostle said : " When I am weak, then am I strong " ; and I 



The Call of the Spirit. 209 

might reverse it, and say to whose who consider themselves so 
strong, that they are weak. Do you not see the logical 
blunder that you make, when because you have not all 
knowledge, you refuse to avail yourself of any ? Suppose that 
all men were at once to adopt the principle in worldly 
matters, what a stroke of paralysis it would be upon the 
world ! All human affairs would be palsied, and death- 
struck. Moreover the points of theological difficulty which 
you raise are almost always such as lie beyond the limits of 
human thought. It is unphilosophic, it is absurd, to make 
such inquiries. To do this is no evidence of strength ; it is 
an evidence of weakness ; there is no wisdom in it ; there is 
nothing but folly in it. To put such difficulties as these 
betw^een you and salvation, is to build an impassable barrier 
between you and eternal life. Persist in thy course, O specu- 
lative inquirer, and thou art a lost soul ! 

3. But there is another way of hardening the heart, 
perhaps even more common. It is by speaking lightly of 
religion, or by purposely acting as if we thought lightly of 
it, or of religious people, or religious places, or services. 
The man who indulges in language or in conduct of this 
kind, will soon learn really to regard religion in the light in 
which he pretends he does; and when a man reaches this 
point his heart is perfectly callous. Without any special 
intention for evil, a man may show disrespect for religious 
places or services, and though he may say he means nothing 
by it, yet its influence will react on himself, and tell on him 
fearfully in the end; though he is deceived into thinking 
that he can somehow escape this terrible reaction. How 
completely out of the reach of the preacher is the man 
whose whole bearing shows disregard for the proprieties 
of the place, and who perhaps at the very moment of a 
solemn appeal is in the act of desecrating the liouse of God ! 
This shameless sacrilege may be thoughtless, but it is none 

82 



210 The Old Theology. 

the less tellino-. If this does not harden the heart, nothing 
can. 

There are those who, after a meeting of unusual solemnity, 
will affect unusual levity. Sometimes a staid and sober 
middle-aged man will exhibit remarkable vivacity of manner, 
after some presentation of truth that made his soul tremble; 
and it is not uncommon to see young persons after a period 
of great solemnity appear more frivolous than ever. Now 
if this affectation of a carelessness that you do not feel is in- 
tended to conceal your real feelings, it fails of its object. I 
know sometimes by a man's very smile that an arrow is in his 
heart. The untimely smile betrays itself. If, however, you 
desire, by affected levity to smother your feelings, and 
harden your heart, you have only to persevere, and you 
will accomplish that object effectually. 

4. But there is still another plan resorted to for harden- 
ing the heart — a half-way orthodox plan. It is by a half-way 
compliance wTTH' the requisitions of the gospel. A person's 
religious feelings are aroused ; he feels that his condition is 
alarming; he knows that the claims of the gospel are just 
and righteous ; he dare not reject them. So he begins to 
read his Bible daily; he attends church regularly; he says 
his prayers — I will not say that he prays— but he says his 
prayers; he determines to try to do better. He knows that 
he may do all this, and be as thoroughly unconverted as he 
ever was ; but he satisfies himself with this. In a few days 
or weeks his piety slacks off', and he is just where he was 
before. Moreover, all the time that he was practicing these 
things, it was a kind of penance with him ; he did not enjoy 
it ; he did it only because he felt obliged to do it ; and to- 
wards the last, he did it, not because he felt the obligation 
but only to carry out the resolution formed when he did feel 
it. Men often try to compromise with their consciences in 
this way, but secretly resolving that they will try to do 



The Call of the Spirit. 211 

better, while at the same time there is a mental reservation, 
that they will not make a total surrender, and be Christians 
just yet. 

My friends, this is a poor hiding place. Be sure your sin 
will find you out. So long as you continue to do this, you 
are hardening your heart, as rapidly, perhaps, and at any 
rate with as much certainty, as by anything that you can do. 
Perhaps if you persevere at this long enough, you will begin 
to plead your morality in response to the claims of the 
gospel ; and when you reach this point, you will be at oppo- 
site poles with Jesus Christ, and with the blood of the cove- 
nant ; and your case will be about as hopeless as it ever can 
be this side the grave. Trust in morality, is one of the most 
deadly heart-hardeners known to the Evil One. Morality is 
beautiful, but I pray you be not deceived by it. 

Akin to that which I have been describing is a mere 
formal religion. Satan has persuaded you that you can be 
healthy and strong by feeding on chaff, leaving out the 
wheat. Remember that the religion of Jesus, the only re- 
ligion that saves, is found in the experience of the heart, 
and not in mere forms, and outward observances. Joining 
the church is of no avail ; baptism is of no avail ; the Lord's 
Supper has no saving efficacy ; no ceremony, and no labyrinth 
of ceremonies, is of the least value. Reliance on any of 
these things is a mere attempt at compromise ; but know that 
the gospel makes no compromises. There is no safety for 
you in this refuge of externals ; there is no safety anywhere, 
except in immediate, unconditional, and total surrender of 
the heart and life to the gospel of Christ. 

5. There is another plan for hardening the heart, just the 
opposite of the one last named. It consists in breaking 
through all restraint, and plunging into open and outrageous 
sin. Sometimes when men are under conviction of sin, they 
"will be more wicked than ever. A type of these is found in 



212 The Old Theology. 

the case of the boy possessed of a devil who was brought to 
Jesus : " And when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare 
him ; and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming." 
And when the spirit was ordered to leave him, it seized him 
once more with fiendish malice, and " rent him sore, and 
came out of him ; and he was as one dead ; insomuch that 
many said. He is dead." Mark ix. 17-29. If there be any 
such here, may Jesus take them by the hand, as he did the 
poor maniac boy, and lift them up. In dismissing the point 
I will only observe that plans which are the reverse of eacl 
other will have the same effect on the heart. Partial com 
pliance with the gospel is hardening, and so also is a total 
disregard of it. The fraud that I perceive in this last method 
is the deepest of all frauds. You are deceived into believing 
that the gospel is all a fiction ; that there is no heaven, and 
no hell, and perhaps no God ; or that if there is, he takes no 
care of the morals of his universe, and holds his creatures to 
no account. This must be what the apostle means when he 
speaks, three verses above, of " an evil heai-t of unbelief, in 
departing from the living God." Ver. 12. 

6. I must specify another plan for hardening the heart, 
although it is substantially involved in all that have been 
named. It is the only one actually implied by the very words 
of the text, and may be regarded as generic and as the sum 
total, of which the others are elements. It is procrasthwUon. 
Here the deceitfulness of sin seems almost to work a miracle. 
It says that to-morrow will do as well, and by this a rational 
man allows himself to be deceived ! Suppose a man to be 
amusing himself in a boat in the River Niagara, above the 
falls, and to find himself drawn a little. into the rapids. 
Beginning to pull out, a spirit whispers to him, " Oh, you 
need not be in a hurry ; a minute hence will do just as well." 
The man relaxes for a minute, when the same spirit says, 
"Another minute will do no harm ; in no case can the delay 



The Call of the Spieit. 213 

of only one minute be of any importance." Would any 
sane man be deceived by such a spirit ? Yet the cataract 
which will launch you into the eternal world of woe is right 
before you, and you are in the rapids, and some spirit within 
you whispers, " To-morrow" and you listen to it ! The Holy 
Ghost, in bursting thunder, calls out, " To-day ! To-day, if ye 
will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." You are deaf 
to this, but lend a willing ear to the spirit that says, ^^ To- 
morrow ! " This has been the habit of your life. I doubt not 
that most of the unconverted persons who hear me have 
really been, at some time, more or less interested in the sub- 
ject of religion, and partly disposed to listen to the voice 
of the Lord. Yet they have taken no step in the right di- 
rection. If I were to ask them, " Have you decided to live, 
and are you determined to die, just as you are ? " they 
would say "No!" But their idea is that now is not ex- 
actly the right time. They are listening to the voice of 
the deceiver, who whispers, " To-morrow ! Pull out of the 
rapids to-morrow ! " They intend to do it just as soon as 
they can feel that all is right. Do you not see that this 
is indefinite postponement, and that its end is destruction? 
You will never feel that all is right. And, even if you 
should feel so, the church at least would not be willing to 
receive you. The church desires those who feel that all is 
wrong ; for they, and they only, have any right to entertain a 
gospel hope. You will never be better prepared to accept 
the gospel than you are at this moment. How can staying in 
the rapids help you to get out of the rapids ? Oh ! but you 
will say, " I intend to try to do better." And have you 
gone back to the same hiding place, out of which you were 
ferreted once before ? Have I not shown you that trying to 
do better, while still holding off from the gospel of Christ, is 
one of the most deadly things that a sinner can do ? The 
Holy Ghost knew all the arguments that can be used in favor 



214 The Old Theology. 

of procrastination, and in reply to all of them together he 
thunders out, " To-day ! " Still the audacious spirit, with hell- 
born impudence, whispers, " To morrow ! " " I cannot," says 
the sinner, " I cannot take so important a step without due 
deliberation." The Holy Ghost replies, " To-day ! " Yet the 
serpent hisses, " To-morrow ! " And the sinner, again deceived 
by him, says, " I am not prepared in feeling to name the 
name of Jesus." The Holy Ghost answers back, "To- 
day!" "I do not understand the mysteries of the kingdom, 
and ought not to come until I can come more intelligently, 
but by to-morrow^' — and the Holy Ghost says, "To-day!" 
" I have not sufficiently repented of my sins ; let me wait 
until " — and the Holy Ghost cuts short the lying breath with, 
" To-day ! " " I have too recently been known to the world 
as a sinful man ; so sudden a change would not command 
confidence " ; all which argument, in a word, is the serpent's 
suggestion o^ " To-morrow T^ The Holy Ghost makes no 
parley, but says, " To-day ! " " Then let me be prepared in 
my own mind, by leading for a time a life of morality." The 
Holy Ghost says, "To-day ! " Forced to the last extreme, the 
lying reptile suggests to-morrow in another form, and, de- 
ceived by him, the sinner says, "Ah, I would like to come, 
but I am not worthy ; poor sinful creature that I am, I am 
not fit to come." And from the very throne of God there 
rolls out, in thunder tones, the voice of the Holy Ghost ; all 
the excuses and all the arguments a sinner can use are met 
and overwhelmed by the resistless logic of Almighty God, in 
that one word, " To-day ! " 

You may well exclaim, "What then shall I do?" Do ? 
Let me say, without specifying any more of the particular 
ways in which deceived sinners harden their hearts, that any- 
thing that an unbeliever can do, no matter what, hardens his 
heart. Doing is itself a great heart-hardener. If the instan- 
taneous surrender, by a hell-deserving, and helpless sinner, of 



The Call of the Spirit. 215 

heart and life to Jesus Christ can be called doing, all is well. 
In this there is safety, and eternal life. Anything else than 
this, no matter what it is, hardens the heart, and thrusts sal- 
vation away from the soul. 

Many persons, I doubt not, have hardened themselves by 
prayer; that is, by impenitent and unbelieving prayer. They 
will not submit to the gospel, yet they are uneasy for their 
souls, and they cherish an idta suggested by the Evil One, 
that if they live and die praying, the Lord will have mercy 
on them. Many a one who has been saying, " Lord, Lord," 
all his life, will be shut out of the kingdom of heaven. The 
man who substitutes his prayer for acceptance of the gospel 
makes a fatal mistake; and he who substitutes his contrition 
or his tears for the blood of the atonement makes a fatal 
mistake. The longer a man continues to weep and to pray 
while he yet rejects Christ, the more impenetrable his heart 
becomes. Whatever the unbeliever does is for his injury; 
there is harm for him in everything. Whatever variations 
of circumstance there may be, the process of heart-hardening 
goes steadily on. 

Take a piece of clay and put it in a cold place ; and it 
freezes, and that hardens it. Put it in a hot place ; it bakes, 
and that hardens it. Press it; and that hardens it. Just let 
it alone ; and that hardens it ; it grows hard of itself. What- 
ever you do with it, or whatever you do not do, it grows 
harder. There is only one way to soften it ; and that is to 
apply moisture to it, and to do it i'^- time. Delay too long, 
and the clay assumes a new character which nothing can 
soften. 

Ah ! these are clay hearts of ours ! How dreadful is the 
condition of the unconverted man ! If he prays, rejecting 
Christ in his heart, that is for the worse ; and if he does not 
pray, that is for the worse ; if he trusts to morality, that is for 
the worse ; and if he is immoral, that is for the worse ; and 



216 The Old Theology. 

whatever he does, and whatever he does not do, all is for the 
worse. Let him take what step he will, or let him take no 
step at all, he makes his heart harder, and darkens his pros- 
pect of salvation by every breath he draws. 

"Why then," you will say, "there is no -hope!" That is 
precisely the point that I wish to establish ; there is no hope 
in unbelief. One thing will soften your heart, no matter 
how hard it is : and that is the blood of the Redeemer. Put 
your trust in Jesus Christ, and all will be Avell. " Him that 
Cometh to me," says he, " I will in no wise cast out"; and you 
need not fear that you will be an exception to that all- 
embracing declaration. 

I have shown you now from whom the words of the text 
proceed. "To-day," the Holy Ghost saith, "harden not your 
hearts." I have shown to whom the words are addressed, 
and many of you well know that they are addressed to you. 
I have shown what is meant by hardening the heart. I have 
shown that this is the result of your own doing, and that God 
holds you responsible for it. I have shown some of the vari- 
ous ways in which this is done, all of which involve the 
deceitfulness of sin, and all of which involve procrastination. 
I have shown the reasons by which these things are sustained, 
all of which are answered by the Holy Ghost in one succinct, 
but tremendous argument, embodied in that one, settling 
word, ''To-day!" 

V. Let us now look at the results of this heart-hardening, 
and wicked life. The results are shown in the verse next 
following the text, which reads as follows : " Unto whom I 
sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest." 

1. The first result that we notice is, that it brings the 
Almighty to his oath. " Unto whom / sware." It is a sol- 
emn thing to bring a man to his oath. An awful responsi- 
bility is incurred when a man says, " I swear," although his 
breath is in his nostrils, and he is but a worm of the dust. 



The Call of the Spikit. 217 

But when the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who is the 
God of the whole heaven, and of the whole earth, who in- 
habits eternity, and fills immensity with his presence, when 
he says, "J swear ! " the whole universe should stand awe- 
struck. On no light occasion should a man take an oath, 
though men often do take oaths when they ought not. But 
God never takes an oath on an occasion that is unwortliy of 
it. Here then is an occasion which is worthy the oath of the 
eternal God. A great occasion truly ; solemn, and awful, 
beyond our conceptions ! These trifling things that we do, 
some of them half-consciously, and some of them uncon- 
sciously, and all of them in the line of procrastination, are 
not so trifling as they seem. We may think but little of 
them ; but God thinks enough of them to take his oath on 
them. We may make excuses for them, and try to explain 
them away ; but God takes no excuses, nor explanations, and 
swears! His oath is addressed to the guilty; mark the 
words, unto whom ! " Unto whom I sware " ! Oh ! is it 
possible that God thus speaks to me ! Am I the object 
towards which the artillery of God's tremendous oath is 
leveled ? All you who have hardened your hearts, to you is 
the oath of an angry God addressed. 

2. Let us notice that the inevitable result of this heart- 
hardening is to bring God to his wrath. " Unto whom 
I sware in my wrath." God tells you on his oath that 
all this dallying with duty, this putting off* till to-morrow 
what ought to be done to-day, stirs up his wrath. At the 
very moment that you are now told of it, you may be trying 
to invent some new excuse for continued delay, and this only 
stirs up more wrath. Terrified you may be at the awful 
prospect, and you shudder to think of the future ; but yet you 
hold back from Christ, and this excites more wrath. This 
wrath may not burst upon you now, for God's providence 
seems to have dammed up the river of his wrath. But the 

T 



218 The Old Theology. 

time will come when providence will cease to intervene, the 
hour of death will come, and then accumulated vengeance, 
long withheld, will rush out like a fiery flood, scorcJiing, 
blasting, overwhelming, with destruction, infinite and for- 
ever. 

3. This leads me to notice the doom of the heart-hard- 
eners. The words of the Spirit are : " They shall not enter 
into my rest." There will be no rest for you ; and as to this, 
you have God's oath for it. " Unto whom I sware in ray 
wrath that they should not enter into my rest."^ An im- 
mortal conscience will forever torment an immortal soul. 
The Devil and his angels will be the companions of the 
forever restless, but immortal soul. The wrath of God 
will burn forever against an immortal soul. It matters not 
in what way he will manifest his fiery indignation. The 
wrath of God, 'in any of its manifestations, overpowers, a 
thousand times over, all mortal conception. 

But is there no way to appease the wrath of God ? In 
the world to come, none whatever. If there were, there 
would at last be rest. But the oath of Almighty God 
declares that there shall be no rest ! What ! shall I not 
after a time sufficiently expiate the sins of this short life ? 
The Holy Ghost answers : " No rest ! " But is this reason- 
able ? I have no reply to make to this, but the Holy Ghost 
says : " No rest I " But how is this consistent with the 
mercy of God? I have no explanations to make. The 
Holy Ghost says : " JVo restV But what is the philosophy 
of all this? Now is no time to talk about philosophy. The 
wrath of God is kindled, and will burn forever, for the Holy 

1 These words as at first used had reference to rest in the land of 
Canaan, but as used in the Epistle to the Hebrews, reference is 
evidently had to the heavenly Canaan. When the apostle says : 
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God" (ch. iv. 
V. 9), and "Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest" (v. 11), 
there can be no possible doubt as to his meaning. 



The Call of the Spirit. 219 

Ghost says : " No rest ! " " But if I cease to delay, if I am 
ready now, this instant for a full surrender to Christ, is there 
no way to quench this wrath ?" Yes! yes ! The blood of the 
atonement will quench it. The blood of Jesus Christ will ex- 
tinguish the last spark of it. Baplize yourself in that blood, 
and that moment your soul will be as safe as the eternal 
love, and almighty power of God can make it. Come then 
to Jesus; and from that moment you will be dead to the 
world, and your life will be hid with Christ in God. 

But reject Jesus, reject him once more, and you may put 
yourself beyond the reach of the Spirit's call ; among those 
who have procrastinated for the last time, and who have 
decided finally against the salvation of their own souls. The 
interests of eternity may turn on the decision of this moment. 
May God help you to decide aright. 

There is a time, we know not when, 

A. point, we know not where, 
That marks the destiny of men, 

To glory or despair ! 



SERMON XIII. 

THE SONS OF GOD. 

** Beloved, now are we the sons of God ; and it doth not yet 
appear wliat we shall be ; but we know that, when he shall appear, 
we shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he is." — 1 John iii. 2. 

WAIVING preface, we come straight to the text, and 
consider its several expressions, one by one, in the 
order in which they occur. 

"Beloved." This is the vocative word by which the 
apostle addresses his audience. Who are they to whom he 
speaks ? They are the people of God, the believers in our 
Lord Jesus Christ ; not those of any particular church, nor 
of any age or nation, but to the saints of every kindred, and 
tongue, and people, and nation, and of all ages, to the end 
of time. Are there any of the Lord's elect within these 
walls ? To you, the apostle speaks. It is as if the favorite 
disciple of Jesus stood before you in person, and looking on 
you with benignant eyes, addressed you by this endearing 
epithet as his beloved. He who loved Jesus, and whom Jesus 
loved, rises from the bosom of his Lord, and looking over the 
vast congregation of the saints that shall stand upon the 
earth, whom no man can number, ourselves included among 
them, if indeed we be saints, salutes them as beloved. What 
kind of love can that be Avhich the apostle feels for millions, 
most of whom he had not seen, and indeed most of them un- 
born, and the vast majority of them even yet to be born ? 
Love has various phases. There is that love w^hich we have 
for our fathers ; and, differing somewhat from this, is the love 
which we have for our mothers ; and again, different is that 
220 



The Sons of God. 221 

which we have for our brothers ; and still different is the love 
for our sisters, and for our friends, and for our countrymen, 
and for men as men — as the children of our common Father 
in heaven. Each relationship gives rise to an affection of its 
own, each differing from all others in kind, and often differ- 
ing in degree. Among the various forms in which affection 
manifests itself, is the love which one disciple of the Lord 
Jesus bears to another. Springing from a relationship pecu- 
liarly its own, Christian love differs from all other loves. It 
is only less wide in its scope than philanthropy, which in- 
cludes in its embrace the whole family of man. Yet the 
strength and tenderness of its tie is not weakened by its vast 
extension. Let strangers meet, and if each sees in the other 
the image of the Lord Jesus, there is love at first sight. How 
often when two parties are thrown together, there seems to 
be, on slight acquaintance, no sympathy between them ; but 
let one of them drop a word which indicates his sonship with 
Christ, and instantly the feeling of brothership is established ; 
and though there be no outward act, and perhaps no word 
of recognition, the two fall, as it were, into each other's arms ; 
they understand each other, they love each other, they trust 
each other ; they feel that, as to the great interests of eternity, 
their hearts beat together. Differences of race or nation do 
not destroy the tie ; little differences of creed do not destroy 
the tie ; great differences of creed do not destroy the tie ; 
nothing destroys the tie. A story is told, whether true or 
false is immaterial, for in either case the point is illustrated, 
of two stranojers who met, havinor never met before. Neither 
could speak one word of the language of the other, yet there 
seemed to be a mysterious sympathy between them. One of 
them, in his anxiety to communicate, exclaimed, ^^ Halleluiah" ! 
The other promptly responded, " J.men"/ Then they knew 
that they were brothers. One word from the vocabulary of 
grace awakens an affection, not so strong, perhaps, as some 

T2 



222 The Old Theology. 

earthly loves, but more endiiriog than them all ; and it may 
be, in our immortal career, more ardent than them all. In 
this love, there is a kind of sympathy and a depth of sympa- 
thy, Avhich that of no other love can approach. The believer 
and the unbeliever, yoked together as husband and wife, may 
entertain a genuine affection for each other, which will last 
for life ; but the deepest current of their feelings, which will 
last forever, must run in opposite directions. Let some 
terrific emergency arise which strains every sinew of men's 
souls, and the saints look not to their earthly relationships 
for sympathy, but to each other. The man of God, if flames 
were crackling around him, would look, not to some godless 
kindred that might be standing nigh, but to the disciple of 
Jesus, should there be one there ; and even if that disciple 
were a servant of servants, low born and dusky-skinned, would 
say to him, " Brother beloved, pray for me ! " At the last 
day, when the great Shepherd shall divide the sheep from 
the goats, the saints by mutual attraction Avill come together, 
while they and the wicked by mutual repulsion will sepa- 
rate. The beginnings of that deathless love of God's people 
for each other Avhich will possess their souls in the eternal 
world are formed here on the earth. If the true disciple has 
to choose for the profoundest sympathies of his soul, between 
the sceptered but godless monarch who sits on imperial 
throne, and the beggar whose sores the dogs lick at his gate, 
but whose heart is the home of grace, he would exclaim, 
" Give me the beggar! " The man of intellect, and learning, 
and taste, and polish, himself a saint, may have a kind of 
sympathy with his godless peer, but it is superficial ; it is 
pleasant enough in the hey-day of life ; but he has a deeper 
sympathy Avith a brother in the Lord, even if the latter be 
coarse, and ignorant, and vulgar, and physically repulsive. 
When we come to extremities, when we reach the bottom of 
the soul's deepest experiences, shall we choose between in- 



The Sons of God. 223 

teliect and grace ? between worldly elegance and the image 

of Christ? Let a prince in society and in the world of taste 

and letters represent the one, and an untutored clown the 

other, and the Christian's heart exclaims, "Give me the 

clown ! " The saint himself may be a prince, the peer of all 

princes; he may be all that genius, and opportunity, and 

culture can make him ; and may enjoy the shallow pleasures 

of companionship with his equals in position ; but ask him 

whom he loves, and he will tell you that he loves the brethren : 

let them be rich or poor, high or low, white or black, when 

he sees the image of the Lord in their hearts, he yearns for 

them, and seeks their association, and exclaims : 

Hinder me not, ye much loved saints, 
For I must go with you. 

And to all the Israel of God he says : " Entreat me not to 
leave thee, or to return from following after thee : for whither 
thou goest, I will go ; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge : 
thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." Ruth 
i. 16. Let me rather suffer affliction with the people of God, 
than enjoy the pleasures of sin for all time. Let the re- 
proach of Christ be in higher esteem than all riches. In the 
day of sunshine and pi'osperity, the polished children of the 
world may be my play-fellows, rather my play-thmgs ; but in 
my calamity m} heart yearns for the brethren, nor can my 
heart ever grow cool. O Israel, O Zion, when I cease to 
love thee, let my right hand forget her cunning, and let my 
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ! 

Men of the world who may be present have no apprecia- 
tion of what I have said. They understand the meaning of 
the words, but not the nature of the sentiment. As men 
born blind cannot see, so men not born of the Spirit have no 
conception of the experiences of grace. Be it known to you, 
then, that here is a phenomenon worthy of your attention. 
There is such a thins: as Christian love. Its tie is one of the 



224 The Old Theology. 

tenderest and one of the strongest known to the Christian 
heart ; its current is the deepest, and its tide is ceaseless as 
eternity. The fact should engage your attention, and lead 
you to seek the religion from which it proceeds. In obe- 
dience to its impulse, the Apostle John, who leaned on Jesus' 
breast, stands before you to-day, and gently says, " Be- 
loved!" 

Having considered the manner of our brother John's 
address, let us now regard its substance. First of all, he 
says, " Now are we the sons of God." Of whom does he 
speak ? He speaks 0/ those to whom he spoke, not of the 
world, but of the beloved, of the saints, the believers in 
Jesus, God's elect ; and of these he declares that they are 
the sons of God. In a certain sense all men are the sons of 
God ; that is, they are his by creation ; but the saints are his 
by a second creation ; and this second creation is more than 
a creation ; it is a begetting. They have been born again ; 
born from above, born of the Spirit. " Of his own will begat 
he us with the word of truth," James i. 18 ; we are " new 
creatures," 2 Cor. v. 17 ; " created in Christ Jesus," Eph. ii. 10. 
We " were dead in trespasses and in sins," and " he quick- 
ened" us into life, Eph. ii. 1, by the same power which cre- 
ated us at first. Nothing short of omnipotence could have 
brought us into either natural life or spiritual life. Birth is 
a thing with which he who is born has nothing to do ; hence, 
if we stand on a higher plane than unregeuerate men, we 
have no ground for boasting. For who is it that has made 
us to differ ? Not we ourselves ; no man can beget himself. 
God has begotten us, and to him be all the glory. For our- 
selves there is nothing but humiliation ; for it was not our 
merit, but our demerit, that occasioned this new relationship ; 
it was our depraved nature that made this regeneration either 
necessary or possible. The change from nature to grace has 
a dark side, a black side, — the side toward us ; it has a bright 



The Sons of God. 225 

side, resplendent with the glory of infinite mercy, — the side 
toward God. He saw us in our lost condition ; knowing that 
there could be no salvation for us without a new nature, he 
looked on us with pitying eyes, and, summoning up the power 
by which the world was made, he gave us that new nature. 
Now, that new nature is ours, ours by inheritance ; we are 
his sons, begotten in his image. Nor can we ever cease to be 
his sons. He has not given us this new life to take it away 
from us ; he has given it to us to keep. It is a deathless life ; 
the germ of immortality is in it. God will not suffer his 
sons, rescued from perdition for the sake of their elder 
brother, his Son Jesus Christ, to be put to death by any ; nor 
will he permit those whom he regenerated in compliance with 
the terms of the everlasting covenant between the Father 
and the Son to fall into the pit. Sons of God in perdition ! 
Is the thought conceivable ? They are not only sons ; they 
are heirs. Heirs of God in perdition ' ISTo language can 
express the horror which the thought excites. They are 
joint heirs with Christ. Joint heirs with Christ in perdition ! 
We shudder away with curdling blood from the very words ! 
No ! They are sons with the Son, and heirs with the Heir ; 
their inheritance is co-extensive with his inheritance, and 
united with his, so that if they lose theirs, he must lose his ; 
the security of his title is the security of theirs. His throne 
is forever and ever ; and on his throne with him will they 
sit. Rev. iii. 21. How far exalted above principalities and 
powers is the position of those whom God has begotten with 
the word of truth, who are the brethren of Christ ! Each one 
of them is a crown-prince of God. Angels fell ; they were 
not united to the throne ; but when we fall, who are united 
to Christ, the throne itself will fall. The wonder of the 
w^orlds, and of the world to come, are they whom God took 
from the miry clay and from an horrible pit, and made them 
by a new creation his sons, and brothers of that glorious 



226 The Old Theology. 

Person, by whom the worlds were made, and without whom 
was not anything made that was made. 

Observe, too, that the apostle speaks in the present tense. 
He says, " Beloved, now are we the sons of God." In our 
thoughtlessness, we are apt to feel as if our sonship will not 
be complete until we die, and enter the pearly gates, and 
mingle with the angels, and with the spirits of just men made 
perfect. As well might we say that one cannot be the son of 
another until he becomes a grown man. He is his father's 
son from the beginning. The relationship of father and son 
is as complete at the first moment as it ever is afterwards. 
Knowing this, the apostle does not use the future tense ; he 
does not say that we shall he the sons of God, but in holy 
exultation, he says, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." 
The expression would have been complete, if he had said, 
" We are the sons of God," for the tense of the verb fastens 
the fact to the present time ; but to make it more emphatic, 
he brings in an adverb, to strengthen the force of the verb ; 
" Beloved ! now are we the sons of God." Is it possible that 
heirs of an eternal throne are walking about the earth 
to-day ? Let the apostle answer for himself, " Beloved, now 
are we the sons of God." Do you ask, dear saint, " Is that 
glorious inheritance to be mine, in the better world ? " It 
is yours now ! " Is Christ who sits at the right hand of the 
Majesty on high to be my brother — my brother?" He is 
your brother now ! " Is my relationship to God and to 
Christ to be such as no angel can aspire to ? " It is such 
now! Neither life nor death, nor time nor eternity, can 
alter or modify the fact that the saints are now the sons of 
God, with all the immortal rights and privileges which that 
relationship involves. 

The heir to a throne should deport himself with becoming 
dignity. Let us remember the high vocation wherewith we 
are called, and walk worthy of it. Let us spend not a 



The Sons of God. 227 

moment in a manner unbecoming to those who are now the 
sons of God. Let the example of our brother, our elder 
brother, once on earth but now on high, be for our imitation. 
Let us be as tender and as true, as gentle and as loving, as 
self-sacrificing and as consecrated, as devout and as pure, as 
faithful and as brave, as Jesus Christ : then shall we be fit 
to be called, what in fact we are, the sons of God. 

Our brother John proceeds to say: "It doth not yet 
appear what we shall be." It is as if he had said, " It is true 
that we are sons, but we are not full grown sons. We are in 
the infancy of spiritual life, and it does not now appear into 
what our manhooa will develop." He does not speak of the 
objective glories of the future world, and say : " It doth not 
yet appear what we shall see" ; he speaks rather of our sub- 
jective state, and says: "It doth not yet appear what we 
shall be " ; having regard, not to the heaven around us, but to 
the heaven in us. Our condition then, as now, will depend 
more on what we are than on where we are. If it were 
possible to describe all the splendors of the heavenly c'.ty, 
it might be done without giving us the least conception of 
the true glory of the place, unless we were informed at the 
same time as to what we shall be. On the same line another 
apostle speaks of the " Glory that shall be revealed in us " 
Rom. viii. 18. Doubtless glory inconceivable to us, in our 
present state, will be revealed to us ; but there will also bs a 
glory revealed in us, which may be as great a wonder to heaven, 
as heaven will be to us. Each saint that enters the holy 
place will carry with him his own experiences of grace, and 
his own story of divine love, showing its adaptedness to his 
idiosyncracies; and in each will be a distinct revelation of the 
wisdom, power, and goodness of God. Among the countless 
millions that will compose the throng of the redeemed, no 
two will be alike, but all together will be a constellation, a 
galaxy, of glorious revelations, such as heaven never saw 



228 The Old Theology. 

before. " It doth not yet appear what we shall be." It may 
be that we shall be as unlike our present selves as the 
majestic oak of centuries is unlike the acorn from which it 
sprang, or as the gold-bespangled butterfly is unlike its parent 
worm. Development there will be ; there is a future for us ; 
this much is implied by the text : " It doth not yet appear 
what we shall be"; but Avhat that future will be was not 
made known even to the seer of Patmos. There are grand 
secrets in heaven, which were kept even from the beloved 
disciple, but which Avill yet be made known to us all. 
Whether we shall be like flaming cherubs or blazing seraphs, 
or like something which we have neither w^ords to describe 
nor powers to conceive, the apostle did not know ; nor has 
there been further revelation since his day ; and now, as 
then, " it doth not yet appear what we shall be." 

But having referred to what he does not know, the apostle 
proceeds to speak of what he does know. He says next, 
*' But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like 
him." In this expression two propositions are involved : 
1. That " he will appear." 2. That, when he does appear, 
" we shall be like him." 

Of whom does the apostle speak when he says, " When he 
shall appear " ? It may be that reference is had to the sec- 
ond coming of our Lord, and this seems to be the general 
opinion of scholarly men, and certainly the general tenor of 
the Epistle appears to favor this view ; or it may be that the 
apostle refers to those glorious disclosures of himself which 
God wall make to his elect, when he fulfills the words, 
" Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." The 
grammatical construction would seem to confirm this latter 
view, and to this I incline. It matters but little which of 
these views may be the proper one. In either case, it is 
manifest that there is to be an appearing — an appearing of 
divine glory such as no mortal eye has ever yet beheld. 



The Sons of God. 229 

There is to be a great unfolding of the splendors of the 
divine character and nature ; and we shall be there to see ; 
and we shall have capacity of appreciation given to us. 
Moses once said to the Lord, " I beseech thee show me thy 
glory," and the Lord condescended to cause his goodness to 
pass before the prophet ; but he hid him in the cleft of the 
rock, lest the sight should overpower him ; for he said, " No 
man can see my face and live." But there is a day coming 
when the hiding place in the cleft of the rock will not be 
needed ; when God, either in the person of his Son, or in his 
own eternal glory, will exhibit, if not the inmost, yet the 
inner depths of his fathomless excellence, to the raptured 
spirits of his sons, redeemed by the blood of the covenant, 
and begotten by the word of his truth. 

It doth not yet appear what we shall be, nor is it possible 
for us to know what revelation of himself God will make ; 
yet this we do know, that, when that time comes, " we shall 
be like him." This is enous-h to know. The sons of God 
now show but little resemblance to their Father; in some of 
them the likeness can scarcely be discovered ; but there is a 
future coming when the children will be like their Father, 
feature for feature, lineament for lineament; the resem- 
blance will be manifest, and all heaven will see it. The 
babe in embryo can scarcely be expected to look like its 
father ; but, when manhood arrives, it will be palpable that 
the father has reproduced himself. The sons of God now, 
even the most perfectly developed of them, are but babes in 
embryo ; but in the maturity of the heavenly state they will 
carry the evidences of their sonship in their persons, and will 
command from all created intelligences the homage which is 
due to the sons of God. The principle in nature, that like 
begets like, has not been varied from in the begetting of the 
children of God. When he shall appear, they will be like 
him; like him who is the impersonation of infinite excel- 

U 



230 The Old Theology. 

lence ; before whom angels bow, and veil their faces, and cry 
forever, " Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabbaoth ! " Oh"'! 
the future of the sons of God ! People think of it as a future 
of peace, and joy, and of sweet companionship, and of de- 
lightful surroundings; they think of the heaven that is out- 
side. But oh ! the heaven that is inside ; the heaven of 
being like God ! In this vale of tears, in this world of sin, it 
is not what we see, nor what we suffer, that distresses us ; it 
is what we are. One's self is his own greatest torment. To 
be sinful ; to be depraved ; to be unworthy ; to be vile, — leads 
many a one to exclaim, with Paul, " O wretched man that I 
am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? " and 
to say, " I discover in myself more resemblance to the father 
of lies than to the Father in heaven ; which way I fly is sin ; 
myself am sin ! " The day of deliverance is coming, when we 
shall not be what we now are ; when we shall get away from 
ourselves ; when we shall find nothing in ourselves to grieve 
over ; when these internal fires will be quenched. " It doth 
not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, when he 
shall appear, we shall be like him." The greatest surprise 
of heaven will be the surprise at one's self. Like God ! Am 
I like God ? Is this myself? Is this the identical self 
which I knew myself to be when I was a poor, sinful crea- 
ture on the earth ? This pure spirit, this sinless soul, these 
glorious powers — are they mine? Lord, is it I? Conscious- 
ness of the fact would extinguish life, if it were not that God 
has provided for the emergency, and will not only give us 
the glory, but the power to bear it. This is the heaven of 
our highest aspirations, — a heaven never thought of in the 
wildest flight that human imagination ever took, — a heaven- 
inspired heaven. But is it true ? The voice of him who 
leaned on Jesus' breast comes rolling back over the cen- 
turies, *' When he shall appear we shall be like him''! 
Enough ! Given this, and all the rest is of small moment. 



The Sons of God. 231 

Identity preserved, conscious identity, and personal excel- 
lence in such form and degree that we shall be like God, 
involves enough to satisfy greater longings than human 
nature ever had or ever dreamed of until God inspired new 
longings, and enough to satisfy the longings thus inspired. 
We cannot realize the truth ; our capacities fall short of it ; 
still it is well to know it, and to remember that the apostle, 
in stating the fact, prefaced it with the words, " We know " / 
Having declared that we shall be like God, our brother 
John now proceeds to state a reason why v^e shall be like 
him.. It may indeed be said that we shall be like him 
under the laws of generation : and certainly this is true, and 
is implred in that " of his own will begat he us " ; but means 
will be used to intensify the likeness thus engendered. God 
will so reveal himself to us, that " we shall see him as he is " ; 
and this is the reason, introduced by the word /or, which the 
apostle gives for the similarity declared. " We shall be like 
him, /or we shall see him as he is," The principle involved 
is one with which we are familiar. The mind becomes what 
it contemplates. He who regards little things will become 
little ; his mind will shrink to the dimensions of the objects it 
holds in view. He who regards great things will become 
great ; his mind will expand in proportion to the demand 
made upon it. He who regards vile things will become vile, 
as he who swallows poison wall be poisoned. He who regards 
pure things will become pure, as he who partakes of whole- 
some food will derive health and vigor from it. Familiarity 
with vice tends to debauch the purest mind, and nothing but 
the strongest antidotes can prevent this result. Intimate 
association with the «jood will elevate the most deo-raded. 
Savage surroundings will make a man a savage ; he w^ill 
deteriorate from civilization to barbarism. On the other 
hand, let all the appointments of taste and culture be about 
one, let all that he sees and all that he hears be refined and 



232 The Old Theology. 

delicate, and unless the better elements of his nature are 
utterly destroyed, he will gradually rise to great superiority 
to his former self. If one has enjoyed such influences from 
the beginning of his life, he will be sure to reflect, to some 
extent at least, the elegance of his encorapassments. It is on 
this principle, that not merely to gratify our tastes, but also 
for the sake of our families, we decorate our homes, and array 
our gardens in their robes of beauty. And with still nobler 
aims, in rearing our children, we never forget that evil com- 
munications are sure to corrupt good manners. The demor- 
alizing influence of impure literature is universally recog- 
nized ; and we try to keep our children from sights and 
sounds, such as would awaken in their young minds improper 
thoughts, or excite wrong desires. We try to keep them 
pure, by shutting out from their minds all that is low or 
vulgar, or degrading, and by introducing them constantly to 
all that is lovely and of good report. In all this we recognize 
the principle that the mind becomes what it contemplates. 

Now then, if that which is elevated is elevating, what can 
so grandly ennoble a man as perpetual contemplation of 
God? If that which is pure is purifying, what can lead 
to such perfect purity as a vision of the depths of the purity 
of the divine bosom ? Now, we see God but dimly ; but even 
with our very partial and very imperfect views, those whose 
thoughts run out towards him are the noblemen of the earth. 
But in that day, when he shall appear, when we shall see him 
who is now invisible, when we shall see him not as we imagine 
him to be, but when " we shall see him as he is" the principle 
that the mind becomes what it contemplates will still hold 
good ; and seeing his greatness, his goodness, his wisdom, his 
purity, his truth, his love, his mercy, his infinite and awful 
holiness, there will be indefinite expansion of mind, in- 
definite enlargement of soul, inconceivable refinement of 
feeling, immeasurable exaltation in dignity, and rapturous 



The Sons of God. 233 

consciousness that we ourselves, our very selves, are indeed 
the sons of God. Being made by the new birth " partakers 
of the divine nature," that glorious nature being ours by 
natural inheritance, and aftei'wards being permitted to enter 
into the Holy of Holies, and to " see him as he is," what else 
is possible than that we should "be like him?" 

The process of assimilation may never be complete, for 
the more we see of him, the more we shall be like him, and 
we shall see more and more of him forever; and thus we 
shall go on from strength to strength, and develop from glory 
to glory. But though the process may never end even in 
the eternal world, the beginning of it is in this present life. 
It is our knowledge of him that now makes us what we are, 
so far as there is anything good in us. His truth is him- 
self expressed, and in studying this, we are studying him. 
" Sanctify them through thy truth," says our Saviour, " thy 
word is truth." Men sometimes clamor for what they call 
practical preaching, as opposed to that which is doctrinal. 
They know not what they ask. The doctrine of God is God, 
and what can be more practical than to fill our minds with 
him ? Will any one say that God is unpractical ? He who 
made us, and who knows what is best for us, has graciously 
revealed himself to some extent, and also some of his plans, 
and purposes, and principles of proceedure. Has he not 
revealed the proper things? If he has, then these are the 
things for us to study ; and the more we ponder them, the 
more we shall be assimilated to his image frcjm whom they 
proceed. Is not this practical? The man Avho gives him- 
self to earth and earthly things will find in an eternal world, 
and often in this world, that he has been the most un- 
practical, the most visionary, the wildest, the most deluded, 
of all intelligent creatures. 

If we would be worthy sons of God, let us banish from 
our perceptions, and from our thoughts, all that is unlike 

U2 



234 The Old Theology. 

God ; let us welcome to our consideration all that pertains to 
him ; let us feed upon his word, and make it our daily medi- 
tation; let us cultivate habitual devoutness; let us remember, 
too, that obedience is one of the best of assimilators, for " if 
any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine" 
(John vii. 17) ; and to do his will is to be what he would 
have us be. If when we see him as he is, we shall be like him 
for that reason, then the more nearly we now see him as he 
is, the more like him now we shall become ; and the best view 
point from which we can regard him is the post of duty. 
Let us stand fast by this, at personal sacrifice if need be ; 
and direct our thoughts daily and hourly to him ; and the 
likeness to our Father will be plainly visible — 

Before we reach the heavenly hills, 
Or walk the golden streets, — 

and the heaven of what we shall be will be begun on earth. 

To repeat the text is to recapitulate the meditations of the 

morning : 

Beloved ! 
Now are we the sons of God ; 
And it doth not yet appear what we shall be : 
But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, 
For we shall see him as he is ! 

What a cluster of precious thoughts we find in these few 
words ! The text reminds us of the grapes of Eschol, one 
bunch of which was so large that a man could not carry it, 
and it was hung on a pole which rested on the shoulders of 
two men, who conveyed it between them. Surely the fruits 
on which we have feasted this mornino; are from the ofarden 
of the Lord. Their rich and nourishing juices have refreshed 
and invigorated us. Yet the supply is undiminished ; others 
are growing where these grew ; we have had but a cluster, 
from a vineyard with no bounds, which is full of them. 



SERMON XIV. 

THE WICKED BLEST FOR THE RIGHTEOUS' 

SAKE. 

"Lo ! God hath given thee all them that sail with thee." — Acts 
xxvii. 24. 

rriHE wicked are often blest for the righteous' sake. The 
JL principle on which this is done, and justified, is un- 
known to man. Reason and philosophy neither suggest nor 
recognize it. Nor indeed is it revealed in the Bible. The 
fact is there clearly set forth, but the justification of it, the 
principle by virtue of which the fact is allowed to exist, God 
has hidden from us. Even if it were revealed, it is probable 
that it would be too deep for us to understand, and we should 
be no wiser than we are now. As to the fact and the princi- 
ple both, they have no analogies in anything human. Per- 
haps the nearest approach to an analogy is this : A father 
whose daughter is married to an unworthy husband conveys 
property to the daughter, and thus indirectly benefits the 
son-in-law. Here the wicked is blest for the righteous' sake ; 
yet the cases are not parallel ; for here the intention is to 
benefit only the daughter ; the benefit which accrues to the 
son-in-law being incidental, and perhaps regretted by the 
donor, who would prevent it if he could. In such cases we 
generally see that the donor uses every means in his power 
to prevent the unworthy from being partaker of his bounty ; 
and indeed this feeling so far prevails, that sometimes a 
father withholds his gifts from his daughter whom he loves, 
rather than have them shared by her unworthy consort. But 

with God, both parties are blest bv intention, and not by 

235 



236 The Old Theology. 

accident. It is the fact that both parties are blest — blest of 
God — and God never does anything without intending to do 
it. As his actions never fall short of his ideals, neither do 
they ever outstrip them. There are no laws outside of him- 
self, undej* the control of which any of his doings must come. 
We may cast a stone to wound an enemy, and thereby, per- 
haps, smite a friend. After the stone has left our hand, it is 
subject to gravitation and other laws, which we cannot con- 
trol. We, in defending our country, might protect some 
whom we might wish to have fallen victims to the common foe. 
We do this from the necessity of the case. But God is under 
no such necessity. If he allows the tares and the wheat to 
grow together until the harvest, it is because he chooses to do 
so, and not because he lacks either the wisdom or the power 
to separate them. If he causes the sun to rise on the evil 
and on the good, and the rain to fall alike on the just and the 
unjust, it is not because he is forced to do so by any power 
outside of himself; it is simply because he so wills. 

As before remarked, we are utterly ignorant of the prin- 
ciple on which God blesses the wicked for the righteous' sake. 
We can only say that his ways are not as our ways, nor 
his thoughts as our thoughts. But this principle, whatever it 
may be, is the fundamental one in the plan of salvation. To 
it all the saints of God owe their redemption. For the sake 
of " Jesus Christ the righteous," ten thousand times ten thou- 
sand and thousands of thousands of guilty rebels against God 
Avill be forgiven, justified, sanctified, and eternally glorified. 
"Not by works of righteousness" which they have done, 
*' but according to his mercy'' he saves them, " by the washing 
of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, shed '* 
on them " abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour," 
Titus iii. 5; "who suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, 
that he might bring us to God." 1 Peter iii. 18. Guilty 
sinners as they are, God forgets their sins, and imputes to 



Blest for the Righteous' Sake. 237 

them the righteousness of Christ ; and in an eternal world, 
they will forever say, " Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but 
unto thy name give glory for thy mercy, and for thy truth's 
sake." Psa. cxv. 1. Why God has chosen to exhibit his 
mercy in this way, it is not for us to inquire. Suffice it for us 
to say with the Psalmist, " Our God is in the heavens ; he hath 
done whatsoever he hath pleased." Psa. cxv. 3. 

Nothing is more familiar to all than the truth that we 
wicked creatures are blest for the sake of Jesus Christ, our 
righteous Saviour. Every prayer which closes, as most 
prayers do, with the words, "/or Chrisfs sake," or with 
other words of like meaning, at once acknowledges and pro- 
claims the doctrine. We are apt, however, to suppose that 
this principle is found only in the plan of salvation, or in 
things connected with it. Our text, however, and many 
other passages of Scripture, expressly teach that this prin- 
ciple is not thus isolated, but that it appears in many other 
of the dealings of God with men. It is interesting to ob- 
serve the same features of the divine economy in the dis- 
pensations of providence, which characterize the Dispensa- 
tion of Grace ; for we are thus happily confirmed in the belief 
that he who is the God of nature and of providence, is also 
the God of the Bible and of our salvation. Let us look to 
the inspired record, and notice some of the instances there 
mentioned in which the Almighty has blest bad men for the 
sake of good ones. 

In the first place, we have our text, " Lo, God hath given 
thee all them that sail with thee." Paul, it will be remem- 
bered, was on shipboard on the Mediterranean Sea, travel- 
ing to Rome to be tried before Cesar, on his appeal from the 
court held by Festus and Agrippa. He was placed as a pris- 
oner in charge of a centurion, who, with a guard of soldiers, 
was conveying him to his place of destination. The whole 
number of persons on board the . aip, including soldiers, 



238 The Old Theology. 

seamen, officers, and prisoners, was two hundred and seventy- 
six. There is no reason to suppose that any of thera ex- 
cept Paul were righteous men, and it is nearly certain that all 
of them were idolaters. The vessel on which they all em- 
barked was about to be wrecked with the almost certain 
prospect of destruction to the entire crew. God, however, 
had a great work for Paul to do, and he determined to 
deliver his servant from the power of the elements. Thus far 
there is nothing wonderful. But the record assures us that 
all that motley crew of wicked men, who composed the 
ship's company, were saved from impending death, by God 
himself, from regard to Paul. The angel of the Lord ap- 
peared before the latter, and said, " Fear not, Paul ; thou 
must be brought before Cesar; and lo, God hath given 
thee all them that sail with thee." Mark the expression, 
" God hath given thee." It was not an accident ; it was 
by appointment of God. " Hath given thee." It was a gift 
to Paul in person, of the lives of those who were with him. 
Those idolatrous and wicked men were spared, vouchsafed 
the boon of life, for Paul's sake. Here, then, is a clear in- 
stance outside of the plan of salvation, where blessings, not 
spiritual indeed, but still blessings, were conferred on the 
wicked for the sake of the righteous. 

Turning to the Old Testament, we find another instance 
in the case of the dishonest and idolatrous Laban, who was 
blest for the sake of Jacob, who sojourned with him. After 
having served Laban for several years, Jacob proposed to 
leave him. Laban's answer to this proposal is thus set forth 
in the sacred record : " And Laban said unto him, I pray 
thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry, for I have 
learned by experience, that the Lord hath blessed me for thy 
sake." The blessings referred to were the blessings of provi- 
dence, increase of cattle, and of other worldly possessions. 

Another instance, even more striking, perhaps, is found in 



Bi.EST FOR THE RiGHTEOUS' SaKE. 239 

the case of Potiphar, the Egyptian officer, who was blest on 
Joseph's account, Joseph being a member of liis household, 
in the capacity of principal servant. The inspired record 
reads as follows : " And it came to pass from the time he 
made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, 
that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house, for Joseph's 
sake ; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had, 
in the house, and in the field." Gen. xxxix. 5. 

Another instance, again, equally clear, but perhaps not so 
striking, is seen in the case of Zoar, the city which was saved 
from destruction on Lot's account. God was about to over- 
throw the cities of the plain, and actually did destroy Sodom 
and Gomorrha with fire and brimstone. Zoar would have 
been involved in the same ruin, but Lot, who had been urged 
by the angel to flee to the mountains, replied that he could 
not escape to the mountains, and asked if he might not take 
refuge in Zoar, arguing that as it was but a little city, it might 
be spared. Whether the argument from the diminutiveness 
of the city had weight or not, the logic of Lot's presence had 
power in heaven, and the city was spared for his sake. In 
reply to his request, the angel of the Lord said to him, " See, 
I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will 
not overthrow the city, for the which thou hast spoken." 
Gen. xix. 21. 

The fact that in all these cases the blessings bestowed 
were of temporal nature is all the more to our purpose, for it 
shows that the principle pervades the acts of God's provi- 
dence, as well as those of his grace ; the analogies of nature 
thus showing unity of purpose with the scheme of re- 
demption. 

Besides the examples already referred to, many passages 
of Scripture may be brought forward which distinctly avow 
the same plan of divine proceedure. For example, in the 
fifth chapter of Jeremiah, we find the following : " Run ye 



240 The Old Theology. 

to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and 
know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a 
man, if there be any tl.at executeth judgment, that seeketh 
the truth ; and I will Dardon iV Here it seems to be de- 
clared that the sins of the whole city would have been par- 
doned for the sake of one righteous man, if there had been 
one such man in it. Again, in the twenty-second chapter of 
Ezekiel, we have the following : " And I sought for a man 
among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in 
the gap before me for tae land, that I should not destroy it, 
but I found none." Hsre it is clearly taught, that if there 
had been a righteous n^'in in the land, the whole land w^ould 
have been blest for hio sake. Perhaps the most noted pas- 
sage is that which was read at the opening of these services, 
when the Lord said : " If I find in Sodom fifty righteous 
within the city, then will I spare all the place for their 
sakes." Gen. xviii. 26. He afterwards said : " I will not 
destroy it for ten's sake." Perhaps, if Abraham had contin- 
ued asking, God would have spared it altogether for Abra- 
ham's own sake. For it is to be observed that God never 
ceased giving, until Abraham ceased asking; and that 
Abraham ceased asking, not because God's goodness failed, 
but because his faith failed. However this may be, the fact 
that God is willing to bless the wicked for the righteous' 
sake, is clearly set forth in this passage. 

One other passage only will be referred to. In the fifth 
chapter of the prophet Micah it is said that, " The remnant 
of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people, as a dew from 
the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for 
man, nor waiteth for the sons of men." _ What is elsewhere 
stated literally is here expressed in poetic figure. As a dew 
from the Lord, which falls impartially upon fruit and flower, 
prolific grain and noxious weed ; or as the showers of rain, 
which descend alike on fields fertile and sterile, so the blessing 



Blest foe the Eighteous' Sake. 241 

of God poured out upon Israel would fall upon the nations 
among whom Israel dwelt ; the Lord, for the sake of his 
chosen ones, blessing also those whose good fortune brought 
them into their companionship. 

To all that has been said there seems to be one serious 
objection. It is repeatedly declared in Scripture that God 
will reward every man according to his works. How is this 
to be reconciled with the doctrine advanced, that he deals 
with the wicked, not according to their doings, but shows 
mercy to them from his regard to others ? 

It may be remarked, in the first place, that, with regard to 
temporal blessings, God does not deal with men according to 
their deeds ; for if he did, no man would ever be blest ; and, 
indeed, the whole rac3 would long since have been swept into 
perdition. The wicked often enjoy great prosperity in 
worldly matters. " They are not in trouble as other men ; 
neither are they plagued like other men." Oftentimes there 
are "no bands" even "in their death." Psa. Ixxiii. While 
the righteous, in the midst of his many afflictions, will some- 
times say with the poet Asaph, " Verily, I have cleansed my 
heart in vain, and have washed my hands in innocency; for 
all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every 
morning." Psa. Ixxiii. The doctrine of this discourse does 
not conflict with God's dealing with every man according to 
his deeds, so far as temporal blessings are concerned ; for these 
are not bestowed on that principle, as both experience and 
Scripture abundantly declare. In fact, all the temporal 
blessings that ever have been enjoyed on earth since the fall 
of man have been bestowed on our wicked race for the 
righteous' sake, — even for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. 
The blessings of providence to the race are just as much the 
purchase of the atonement as the blessings of grace to the 
elect. The air we breathe, the water we drink, and all 
the daily blessings of life, are ours only for Jesus' sake ; and 

V 



242 The Old Theology. 

in this sense salvation is universal. The apparently opposing 
principles do not conflict as to things temporal ; the only 
difficulty, if there be any, is with regard to things spiritual. 
How can the blessings of the hereafter be apportioned to 
each man according to his merits, as the Scripture declares 
in many places, while yet the wicked are to be saved for the 
righteous' sake — for Jesus' sake ? 

Those who are saved will be saved, not on the ground of 
their merit, but with regard solely to the merits of Jesus 
Christ, for whose sake, and for whose sake alone, they will be 
rescued from the perdition to which their deeds would have 
justly consigned them. When they are saved, they will be 
rewarded for their deeds. Their evil deeds will be remem- 
bered no more, for it is from these — from their sins — that 
they are saved. But their good deeds will be published, 
and rewarded ; he who did nothing more than give a cup of 
cold water to a disciple will in no wise lose his reward. When 
the dead who die in the Lord rest from their labors, their 
works do follow them. They follow them for a purpose. 
What can that purpose be? It must be to bless and to 
glorify ; and the longer and brighter the train by which they 
are followed, the greater will be their bliss and their exalta- 
tion ; while those who are saved so as by fire, whose works 
are all burned up, must be but door-keepers in the house of 
the Lord, — infinitely blest, it is true, but not blest as they 
w^ould have been, if followed by a shining array of Christ-like 
deeds. Thus the stars that shine forever and ever will differ 
one from another in glory. And thus God will proceed on 
both principles ; first saving the elect through Jesus Christ ; 
that is, blessing the wicked for the righteous' sake ; and after- 
wards, rewarding them for their deeds, not forgetting so 
small a thing as a cup of cold water. 

With regard to those who perish, they will be dealt with 
on the same principles. The blessings of life, and health, 



Bl>EST FOR THE RiGHTEOUs' SaKE 243 

and prosperity, and all manner of worldly good, together 
with the present gracious opportunities of hearing the gospel, 
and erabracing it; all these things they have received 
on the principle of blessing the wicked for the righteous' 
sake. But having rejected the salvation which Jesus brought, 
they will be judged according to their deeds, some being 
beaten with many stripes, and some with comparatively few. 

Thus it appears, that what seemed to be conflicting prin- 
ciples do not really impinge on each other ; but operate inde- 
pendently, and in such different directions that there is no 
interference. But whether we can explain the apparent con- 
tradiction or not is a small matter. If we believe nothing 
but what we can explain, our creed will be brief. There can 
be no doubt of the fact that God does bless the wicked for the 
sake of the righteous; the thought runs all through the Bible; 
and the principle pervades all God's dealings with men for 
time and for eternity. He who, in the plentitude of his grace, 
saves a world full of sinners for Jesus' sake, saves also, by 
the workings of his providence, a ship's company of idolaters 
for Paul's sake. "Lo, God hath given thee all them that 
sail with thee." 

Considering it then established, that God blesses the 
wicked for the righteous' sake, not only in the plan of salva- 
tion, but also, which is more especially the subject of our 
present notice, in the ordinary affairs of life ; let us inquire 
what practical use can be made of the subject. Some one 
may ask, " What of it, if it is so ? If the doctrine is true, it 
must have its uses. What are those uses " ? 

In the first place, we are led to a new view of the good- 
ness of God. He dispenses his blessings on such grounds as 
the best of men, in their utmost benevolence, never dreamed 
of. If I may use a strong anthropomorphism, it seems to 
represent God as being anxious to be gracious, and as seeking 
excuses for the manifestation of his mercy. When the 



244 The Old Theology. 

wicked will give him no opportunities to bless them for their 
own sakes, an ingeniously found opportunity is discovered in 
the goodness of their neighbors, and they are blest for their 
sake. As a determined man when he cannot find a way will 
make one, so the determined impulses to goodness of the 
Ever-blessed One will make ways for its manifestation, and 
force itself through channels, natural or unnatural, blessing 
the righteous, not only for their deeds, but with a surplus, 
which inures to the benefit of the wicked. Surely this is a most 
amiable light in which to view the character of the Almighty ; 
and surely we ought to love and glorify a Being whose good- 
ness is so winning, whose benevolence is so resplendent. 

Another use of the doctrine is this : It supplies another 
inducement to abound in goodness. While the love of God 
should be the mainspring of all our actions, it is not unscrip- 
tural that, superadded to this, should be the love of man. 
Let benevolence prompt you to a holy life, that the blessing 
Avhich God pours out on the righteous may run over for the 
injurious. Thus you will not only be blest, but be a blessing. 
" What knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy 
husband? Or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt 
save thy wife ? " How do you know, O father, and O mother, 
but that if you keep his covenant, and remember his com- 
mandments to do them, the mercy of the Lord may be from 
everlasting to everlasting to you, and his righteousness to 
your children's children? Serve the Lord, and the blessing 
he bestows upon you may descend to your offspring. You 
may draw down blessings upon all your kindred, upon your 
neighbors, upon your friends, upon your country. Let all 
who love their fellow-men do deeds of righteousness, and the 
windows of heaven vvhich will be opened above them, will 
shower down blessings not only upon, but all around them. 

Another use of the doctrine is this : It teaches us to seek 
the company of the good. It is well known that they who 



Blest for the Righteous' Sake. 245 

are found in bad company are apt to suffer, as indeed they 
ought ; for the penalty should follow the fault. Thank God, 
that, while we can see no reason for it, it is nevertheless the 
fact, that those who are found in good company are sure to 
share their blessings, even if unworthy of them. Let us, 
then, press close to the holy and the good, so that, when their 
cup runneth over, and the blessing comes in such floods that 
there shall not be room to receive it, we may be there to par- 
take of the overflowing bounty. Let us walk through life, 
hand in hand with the pious, and the consecrated, linking 
our destiny with theirs, and saying, " Thy people shall be 
my people, and thy God my God." Perhaps by continued 
association with them we shall be so imbued with their spirit 
that, when they ascend, their mantles will fall upon us. If 
Elisha had not kept company with Elijah, he would not 
have witnessed the glorious spectacle of his ascension, and 
would not have been blest with the glorious inheritance. 
The prophet, about to be translated, seemed to put obstacles 
in the way of his companion. Elijah said to Elisha, " Tarry, 
I pray thee, here; for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel." 
But Elisha said, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul 
liveth, I will not leave thee." Discouragement again assailed 
the persistent prophet, for Elijah said to him, " Tarry, I pray 
thee, here ; for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho." Nothing 
daunted, Elisha again replied, " As the Lord liveth, and as 
thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee ! " For the third time 
there came determined repulse, for Elijah said, " Tarry, I 
pray thee, here; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan." 
The still more determined reply was as before, "As the 
Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee." 
They passed over the bed of Jordan together, and Elijah 
said to Elisha, " Ask Avhat I shall do for thee, before I be 
taken away from thee." And Elisha said, " I pray thee, 
let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." And he 

V2 



246 The Oli> Theology. 

said, " Thou hast asked a hard thing : nevertheless, if thou 

see me, when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; 

but if not, it shall not be so." And as they went on and 

talked there came a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and 

parted them asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind 

into heaven. And Elisha saw it! he saw it! he saw it! 

Oh ! let not the man of God put me away from him. Despite 

remonstrance, I will cling to him. I will follow him to 

Bethel, to Jericho, to Jordan, to the ends of the earth, that, 

when his chariot comes, I may be there to seize the falling 

mantle. How vain are the thous-hts of those who would 

serve God, but who keep themselves separate from his 

people! Let me never be banished from such association. 

All unworthy as I know I am, my song shall ever be — 

Hinder me not, ye much loved saints, 
For I must go with you. 

I may be shut out, and justly, from the fellowship of the 
Lord's people, but nothing can keep me from their company. 
In ancient days, some who were afar off said to Israel, "We 
W'ill go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." 
A wise resolve it was ; and the day will never dawn when it 
will not be a blessed thing to be where blessed people are. 

Still another use of the doctrine. It shows us who are our 
true benefactors, and our indebtedness to them. We gener- 
ally look to our great men as our country's benefactors ; but 
we ought to look to our good men. All honor to the brave, 
W'ho with strong arm and dauntless heart defends his country 
in battle ; but more honor to him because of whose goodness 
the God of battles causes victory to perch upon our banners. 
All honor to the statesman, whose wise counsels sustain us in 
our place among the nations ; more honor to him who prac- 
tices the righteousness which alone exalteth a nation. In 
another world when we look back upon, and understand, all 
the secret and mysterious influences that are at work around 



Blest foe the Righteous' Sake. 247 

us here, we may discover that some humble and obscure 
citizen, whose name figures on no historic page, whose modest 
course was all unobserved, whose meek and quiet spirit 
shrank from notice, has done more for his country and for the 
world, than all our generals, statesmen, orators, philosophers, 
scholars, and scientists together. 

We know not how great a blessing may come from God 
for what may seem to us to be an insignificant cause. In 
some great city, where wickedness is rife and rampant, where 
a million human beings are congregated, and where crime 
seems to be concentrated in a focal point, tnere — in some far- 
off* little chamber, perhaps in dusty garret, cheerless of fire, 
and where the blasts of winter peal through broken panes — 
there sits a lone widow, who plies her industrious needle for 
the pittance wherewith to buy bread for the half-famished 
boy who calls her mother. Tears fall from weakened eyes 
on aching fingers, but her trust is in him who is a husband to 
the widow, and a father to the fatherless. God looks down 
from heaven, and is moved with pity. Yearning with com- 
passion, his love gushes out toward the poor and the needy, 
and the river of goodness overfloods the whole city. Who 
knows but that the great awakenings, and the great outpour- 
ings sometimes experienced in this place or in that may have 
been for the sake of some righteous soul, who so provoked the 
goodness of God, that it burst out over the whole place? If 
it were so, it would but be in keeping with that economy, by 
virtue of which it was said to Paul, '• Lo, God hath given 
thee all them that sail with thee." 

Those wicked soldiers who sailed wdth Paul, aud who 
were saved on his account, were anxious to put him to death, 
lest he might escape. There seem to be some like them now 
who, at least, thrust the righteous aside and treat them with 
contumely. Let us remember our obligations to the right- 
eous, and cherish the good wherever we find them. Let us 



248 The Old Theology. 

not ask whether men are wise, or great, or rich, or learned, 
or high, or low in estate ; let us seek the good ; and having 
found them, even if they be poor, and ignorant, and despised, 
and immeasurably beneath us in social position, let us cherish 
them, and honor them, and love them. Thus, with the 
lowly, we may find honor to ourselves; and while we dis- 
charge a debt of gratitude to these, our true benefactors, and 
God's noblemen, we shall receive new blessing from the God 
whom they serve. 

Another use of the doctrine is that it shows at once the 
greatness, and appropriateness, of the gift of God to his 
people. "Lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with 
thee." What a splendid donation ! Not houses, nor lands, 
nor money, nor men-servants, nor maid-servants, but the 
lives of two hundred and seventy-five of his fellow-men ; 
and with their lives, the opportunity to secure eternal life. 
Perhaps some of them seized the opportunity, and shine now 
as gems in the apostle's crown of rejoicing. When princes 
make presents, it is expected that the recipients will be made 
rich. Here is a gift from the King of kings, worthy of the 
donor. Imagine yourself to be spectator of a shipwreck, such 
as Paul suffered, or such as are frequent on our Atlantic 
waters. Suppose when the Austria ^ was destroyed, with 
hundreds of human beings on board, you could have seen 
the frantic terror of some who threw themselves into the 
waves, the silent and despairing agony of others who in- 
actively resigned themselves to their fate, the frenzied energy 
of others clinging to treacherous planks, the sea all alive 
with struggling mortals ; and suppose that just then, some 
angel had said to you : " I come to offer you a choice of 
gifts. Take for your portion uncounted gold, or take the lives 
of that perishing multitude." Oh ! who could have hesitated 
which to choose? Once an angel came to a similar scene, 

' This was a recent event when this sermon was delivered in 1858. 



Blest for the Righteous' Sake. 249 

and said to ooe : " Lo, God hath given thee all them that 
sail with thee." "What wealth bestowed ! what glorious 
opulence ! what munificence of infinite goodness ! 

But the appropriateness of such a gift to one of God's 
children is more strikinor than its mao^nitude. God knows 
that if he were to bestow on one of his chosen ones every 
good thing that could possibly inure to his benefit, irrespective 
of others, he would still be not fully blest. If all one's 
blessings terminate subjectively, his selfish affections only 
would be gratified ; but these are the weakest desires of a 
Christian's heart. Love is his strongest impulse, and, if this 
be ungratified, he can have no appetite for selfish pleasures. 
God blesses him in all respects. He gives him all the good he 
can hold in his own soul ; and, besides this, all he can enjoy 
by proxy. As we, in bestowing gifts, seek out what is appro- 
priate, and what is best adapted to gratify the peculiar tastes 
of the intended recipient, so God, who knows the idiosyncra- 
cies of his people, bestows gifts that terminate not on them- 
selves, but such as gratify their benevolent aflfections. He 
who is able to give like a God, knows what to give to the 
children of God. 

Perhaps this view may throw a ray of light on that text 
where our Saviour in his last prayer says, " The glory which 
thou gavest me, I have given them." A part of Christ's 
glory is that of being the righteous one for whose sake others 
are saved. A glory, like in kind, was vouchsafed to Paul, 
for whose righteous sake all his fellow-travelers were spared. 
A glory, like in kind, is vouchsafed to every righteous man ; 
for whoever is blest himself is himself a blessing. 

One more thought will close this discourse. We have, 
seen that wicked men are blest for the righteous' sake, and 
that, too, when there is no relationship or tie between them, 
and when they happen by accident to travel or sojourn 
together. Let it be remembered, too, that those whom we call 



250 The Old Theology. 

righteous are righteous only by imperfect human standards, 
and that they fall infinitely short of the glory of God. How 
much more shall the wicked be blest for the righteous' sake, 
when that righteous one is the brightness of the Father's 
glory, and the express image of his person ! How much 
more when there is more than mere companionship, when 
indeed there is the union of mutual love! How much more 
when this union is not transient, but forever and ever ! How 
much more when it is not accidental, but by the eternal pur- 
pose of God ! Oh ! if the doctrine we have been considering 
be true, how infinitely blest, how eternally safe, how far be- 
yond the reach of Arminian cavil or Satanic malice is the 
disciple of Jesus! Oh, in my journey through life, may I 
ever find some Paul, to be my fellow-traveler, for whose sake 
I may be blest, and to whom in the hour of peril my poor 
life may be given! But in my eternal pilgrimage, O Lord 
Jesus, be thou the companion, and the lover of my soul; 
then indeed shall the wicked be blest for the righteous' sake I 
Amen ! Even so, come, Lord Jesus ! 

Saviour, more than life to me, 

I am clinging, clinging close to thee ; 

Let thy precious blood applied. 

Keep me ever, ever near thy side. 
Every day, every hour, 
Let me feel thy cleansing power ; 
May thy tender love to me, 
Bind me closer, closer, Lord, to thee. 



SERMON XV. 
ANALYSIS OF NEARNESS TO GOD. 
" Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you."— James iv. 8. 

THE Scriptures are full of sweet and precious promises. 
Inspired men who have gone before us have scattered 
them all along the Christian pilgrim's pathway, like flowers 
to cheer by their glowing colors, or refresh by their sweet 
perfume ; or, to change the figure, they are like trees planted 
all along the King's highway, so that all who travel there 
may rest under their cooling shade, or partake of their 
luscious fruit. Perhaps there is no promise more refreshing 
and invigorating to the Christian, than that now before us. 
" Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you." This 
is one of those promises that are inviting to sinners uncon- 
verted, as well as to saints. Many, alas ! are not on the 
King's highway, but tread the broad road that leads to de- 
struction. Yet even to them, the voice of inspiration calls, 
sweetly and invitingly, " Draw nigh to God, and he will 
draw nigh to you." 

Here is a certain blessing promised, to wit, that God will 
draw nigh to us, on a certain condition to be performed, to 
wit, that we draw nigh to him. It is desirable that we should 
know exactly what this blessing is ; and also exactly what 
the condition is on which we are to obtain it. We derive 
enjoyment from the promise just as it stands, without expla- 
nation, and perhaps without a distinct apprehension of its 
meaning. There is something sweet in the very sound of 

the words. A charm seems to linger around them, a melody 

251 



252 The Old Theology. 

to be breathed in them. We recognize in them the Fatherly- 
voice, and we know by the tone that good i?5 intended. But 
if there be music in the mere sound which embodies the 
thought, how much will our joy be enhanced when we come 
to appreciate the thought itself! The condition and the 
promise are therefore worthy of our closest scrutiny. 

I. Let us inquire what is meant by drawing nigh to God. 
If we regard God as in heaven, and ourselves on earth, we 
canuot draw nigher to him than we are now. If we regard 
him as an Omnipresent Spirit, nearness is equal at all times. 
But it is not a question of space. What then is it ? If one 
portion of Scripture be dark, light is thrown upon it from 
some other passage, which light it modifies and reflects ; like 
a body, opaque in itself, which borrows rays, softens, and 
reproduces them. Our Saviour, quoting from Isaiah, says on 
a certain occasion : " This people draweth nigh unto me with 
their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips: but their heart 
is far from me.'' Matt. xv. 8. 

It is easy to infer from this passage, what is meant by 
drawing nigh to God with the lips. It is to speak forth his 
honor and his praise ; to admit, orally, the truth of his 
word ; to acknowledge our dependence on him, and his 
claims upon us ; and to ask his favor and his blessing. But 
this is not drawing near to God in reality, because it is a 
mere lip-service, unaccompanied by the sentiment of the 
soul and the desires of the heart. Suppose the heart and 
lips to be united in such a service. Our Lord declares that 
the worshipers did draw nigh to him with the lips; if the 
same had been done with the heart, the service would have 
been complete, and the condition prefixed to the reward 
promised would have been complied with. This is only 
another form of saying that drawing nigh to God consists 
in the spirit of heartfelt prayer, a spirit which may exist not 
only in the act of prayer but which may be habitual and 



Analysis of Nearness to God. 253 

abiding. A careful analysis, therefore, of the share which 
the heart takes in prayer, will show exactly what is meant 
by drawing nigh to God. In making this analysis, it will be 
"vvell, as we consider each element of duty, to regard, also, its 
reasonableness, and the obligation we are under to dis- 
charge it. 

1. Let us notice that the very act of prayer implies a 
desire to have an interview with God. This is an indispen- 
sable preliminary to drawing nigh to God. Ought not one 
to entertain this desire ? Here is a Being possessed of every 
perfection of character. Ought not every rational and moral 
creature to desire acquaintance and intercourse and inti- 
macy with him? Here is a friend who has been supporting 
you all your life. Ought you not to wish to speak to him, 
and thank him for his countless benefactions ? This perfect 
and most gracious Being you have offended and injured. 
Ought you not to desire opportunity to prostrate yourself 
before him, and crave forgiveness? He has threatened with 
everlasting destruction those who refuse to seek him. Ought 
you not to plead for mercy ? He has provided a plan 
whereby you may be saved, saved from sin and its conse- 
quences, to holiness and all that it involves. Ought you not 
to desire from him a revelation of that plan ? He has pro- 
vided a Mediator, through whom you may approach him. 
Ought you not to avail yourself of that mediation? Surely, 
considering your circumstances and your relation to God, it 
is highly desirable that you should have an interview with 
him. There is nothing to be gained by staying away, but 
all to be lost. The question of interview is only a question 
of time. You must meet him at the last day, when, if you 
have not made peace wdth him before, his face will be 
clothed with frowns. It would be better to seek his face 
now, while he smiles. The man who has no desire to avail 
himself thus of his privileges, is far from God indeed. There 

w 



254 The Old Theology. 

exists, in this case, a mutual repulsion between the Creator 
and the creature, which will widen the distance between them 
forever. But he who has this desire for personal appearance 
before a personal God, has taken the first step towards draw- 
ing nigh to him. 

2. When this desire to speak with God has truly possessed 
a man's soul, he is sure, in yielding to it, to utter, as he ap- 
proaches the Majesty on high, some expressions of adoration ; 
that is, he worships God, by ascribing glory and honor to 
him. 

" Thou, O God, art greatly to be feared in the assembly of 
the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are 
about thee ! Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, which 
art, and wast, and art to come ! O Lord our Gcd, thou art 
very great. Thou art clothed with honor and majesty. Thou 
coverest thyself w^ith light as with a garment, and yet as to us 
makest darkness thy pavilion. As heaven is high above the 
earth, so are thy thoughts above our thoughts, and thy ways 
above our ways. All nations before thee are as a drop in the 
bucket, or as the small dust of the balance. Thou takest up 
the isles as a very little thing. They are as nothing, and 
counted to thee as less than nothing, and vanity. Glory, and 
honor, and praise, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon 
the throne forever and ever. The Lord is king. The Lord, 
he is God, and beside him there is none else." 

These words, or others of like character, constitute an 
essential part of oral worship. The man who feels the senti- 
ments which such words express, is doing that much towards 
drawing near to God. Ought not every heart to entertain 
such sentiments as these? God is an Eternal Spirit ; we are 
creatures of yesterday. Ought we not to revere him ? God 
made the world and the sky, and all that in them is ; we are 
helpless worms. Ought we not to adore the Source of all 
power? God is omniscient; we are ignorant. Ought we not 



Analysis of Nearness to God. 255 

to do homage to Infinite Wisdom ? God is glorious, glorious 
in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. Ought we not, 
if we dared to do it, to render awe-struck praise to Infinite 
Purity ? The entertaining of these sentiments, so reasonable, 
and so proper, is another step towards drawing nigh to God. 

3. But further, the man who draws nigh to God with his 
lips confesses himself to be a sinner, a great sinner ; for any 
sin is great. Ought he not to draw nigh with his heart in 
the same way ? That is, ought not a man to feel that he is a 
great sinner? Just think of a pure and holy God, in whose 
sight the very heavens are unclean, and then think of your- 
self! God has been holy from eternity ; did you ever spend 
one day as you ought? or one hour? or a moment? The 
purest thouofht you ever had> was it entirely uncontami- 
nated ? The best act of worship you ever did, was it worthy ? 
When we approach the presence of him who is to be our 
righteous Judge, whose eyes are too pure to behold iniquity, 
and who will visit awful and tremendous justice on trans- 
gressors, is it not becoming that we should be oppressed with 
a sense of our own depraved nature, and, all prostrate in 
spirit, exclaim: "Unclean! unclean!" The man whose 
breast is not filled with this emotion, never yet drew nigh to 
God. What shall we say of those who claim the right to 
nigh approach, on the ground of their excellent character? 
An impassable gulf lies between them and their Maker. 
But blessed is the man who is burdened with a sense of 
guilt; for " The Lord is nigh unto them tiiat are of a broken 
heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." Psalm 
xxxiv. 18. 

4. But this is not all. The man who draws nigh to God 
with his lips professes such awful reverence for the Majesty 
of Heaven, and such abhorrence of himself as a vile sinner, 
that he claims the intervention of a Mediator. Now the man 
who draws nigh with the heart does really feel the need of a 



256 The Old Theology. 

Mediator. Ought he not thus to feel ? God is great ; we 
are miserable criminals who have violated his law. God is a 
consuming fire ; how can we come into his presence ? If 
there were no Mediator, w^e should be in the situation of the 
devils. How could they presume to show their faces before 
God ? Nor is there anything in our nature to make us at all 
more fit than they to come into the angust presence of the 
Almighty. Remember now that there is a Mediator between 
God and men ; that this Mediator is a person of high stand- 
ing with the King, so high that he shares his throne; that 
nevertheless there is a human side to his nature, and that he 
calls us brethren; that for the sake of exercising the media- 
torial ofiice, he assumed the nature and form of man ; and 
was crucified, in order to make an atonement for our sins ; 
and that this, atonement was appointed by the Almighty, be- 
fore the foundation of the world, as a means whereby we might 
draw nigh to him, and as a satisfactory expiation of our sin, 
and that God has pledged himself to this: that he will in 
no wise cast out any who come to him by Jesus Christ. 

Now when our natural state and relation to God are so 
awful, and when we really need a Mediator so much, and 
W'hen such an all-sufficient one is to be had, ought we not to 
feel as if we needed him ? and really to lean upon him, 
trusting wholly to what he can do for us, and not to what we 
can do for ourselves ? What feeling could be more reason- 
able or becoming than this ? What feeling would seem 
to be more natural ? What could be more unnatural, what 
so audacious, as to ignore mediation, to thrust aside the 
Mediator, and to press tow^ard the aw^ful Presence on our own 
account ? My friend ! Do you feel this need of a Mediator 
between you and the great God? It will not suffice that 
your understanding assents to the desirableness of such medi- 
ation. Your heart must be stirred with emotion in view of 
your need of some one w^ho is in the divine favor, to say a 



Analysis of Neaeness to God. 257 

good word for you before the high court of heaven. Would 
it fill you with rapture to think that ycu have an advocate 
with the Father, that this advocate loves you, and that the 
Father loves him, and will do anything for him that he asks, 
even to the extent of his kingdom ? Does your soul yearn 
for such a friend in heaven, and would you be overjoyed to 
think that you had one? If so, happy is it for you ; for you 
are not far from God. This step has brought you very nigh. 
But without this you are forever banished ; for, says Jesus 
Christ, "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." 
(John xiv. 6.) We " who were sometimes afar off are made 
nigh by the blood of Christ " (Eph. ii. 13), and by no other 
means ; if this be omitted, nearness is not possible. Except 
through Jesus Christ, God is unapproachable. 

5. But let us take another onward step, and press as 
closely to God as possible. The man who draws nigh with 
his lips, professes faith in God's word, and confidence in his 
promises. If a man exercises this faith, if he feels this con- 
fidence, all is well, and his service is acceptable. Ought not 
a man to feel this assurance of faith in him with whom deceit 
is impossible? He who dwelleth in light unapproachable, 
w^hose word is eternal truth, — shall he not be believed ? God 
has declared by the mouth of one of his spokesmen to the 
world, that " Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the 
law." Gal. iii. 13. Glorious news ! Ought w^e to feel confi- 
dence in it ? By the mouth of another he has assured us, 
that Christ " bare our sins in his own body on the tree." 
1 Pet. ii. 24. Wonderful, indeed, it is, that our sins should 
be borne by another ! But ought the wonder to shake our 
confidence ? By another he has said, that " The blood of 
Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John i. 7. 
Mystery ! We cannot understand how it is, that an unholy 
being can be made holy by blood, nor how he can be made 
holy at all. But shall its mysleriousness be a ground of mis- 

W2 



268 The Old Theology. 

giving ? Shall we believe God only when he tells us things 
that excite no wonder, that is, things of wiiich we have other 
evidence, and which we believe on account of that other 
•evidence? Is God's word to be taken only when it is in- 
dorsed? Must circumstances corroborate his statements 
before we receive them ? The Maker of heaven and earth, 
he that sitteth King forever and ever, sends us word that we 
are " reconciled to God by the death of his Son," and "shall 
be saved by his life." Rom. v. 10. It may seem too good 
to be true, that the pure and holy God and vile sinners 
should ever be reconciled and in harmony. But God himself 
is responsible for the announcement. Shall we impeach the 
witness? We are assured, on the same authority, that Christ 
is " able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto 
God by him." Heb. vii. 25. Where is the man that dares to 
make exceptions, when God makes none ? Ought we, or 
ought we not, to take the Almighty at his word, and rely 
without question or doubt, on his declarations, with more 
confidence even than we feel in the testimony of our senses? 
Our senses sometimes deceive us ; in fact, not very unfre- 
quently. Yet we rely on them; and when we are sure, we 
are very sure. Did God ever deceive? Is he capable of 
deceit? Is not his word the surest reliance in the universe? 
Think of him whose wisdom made the worlds, and whose 
power sustains them, whose infinite and awful holiness is from 
everlasting to everlasting, whose goodness is unfathomable as 
eternity, and all of whose glorious character is pledged for 
the truth of his word ; then with your mind filled with this 
conception of the majesty of Jehovah, tell me what your 
imagination can suggest superior to him, or what evidence, 
which more than his declaration, should command our confi- 
dence. Ought we not with the calm assurance, and with the 
solemn, yet glad emphasis of the Psalmist, to exclaim : " For- 
ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven ! " Psa. cxix. 89. 



Analysis of Nearness to God. 259 

Strange that men should doubt ! What a world's phenomenon 
is an unbeliever! Yet, alas! human nature is so perverted 
by sin, that unbelief, which would seem to be monstrous, is 
normal. It is the abnormal that has become normal. He 
who has so far got the better of human depravity as to feel 
confidence in the promises of the gospel ; who enjoys a happy 
assurance that they are true ; who, without the shadow of a 
misgiving, risks his soul's salvation on them, — is a man over 
whom angels exult with shouts of rejoicing. Happy man ! 
None that are afar off can exercise such faith, nor enjoy the 
peace that passeth understanding, which it brings. 

6. Another step will bring us not only nigh to God, but 
into his verv embrace. The man who draws nigh with his 
lips professes to dedicate himself to God's service, and to 
be, and to do, all that his law requires. This is drawing 
nigh, very nigh, with the lips, and if the sincere desire of the 
heart accompany these oral utterances, the worshiper is 
nigh indeed. Ought not a man to be willing to obey one 
who is infinitely great, and wise, and just, and good ? It is 
certain that God will require from him nothing but what is 
rio-ht. Ought one to be willing to do right ? God will 
require nothing from a man but what is for his own good. 
Ought a man to be willing to benefit himself? The Lord 
Almighty has been our constant Benefactor, and we have 
never served him as we should. Ought we to be willing 
to serve him now ? God is the Saviour of our souls. Sup- 
pose that he requires our fortunes, our lives, all that we have. 
Ought we not to respond to the demand cheerfully ? We 
ought not to wait to be asked ; we ought to forestall demand 
by offer. Without looking for a command, we ought rather 
to seek a privilege. The question should never be : What 
must I do ? but, What may I do ? Without yielding re- 
luctantly, as if to rigid and inexorable exaction, we should 
of our own accord fly to our Divine Saviour, and say: 



260 The Old Theology. 

"Here am I, O Saviour, and here is mine. Take all, all, 
all!" 

My brother, my friend, are you willing to give up every sin, 
to do every duty, to consecrate yourself, your heart, your life, 
your time, your talents, your earthly possessions, your all to 
the service of your Maker ? Or must you make some reserva- 
tions ? Are there some things too good to give to God ? Are 
there some services too great to be rendered to him ? We 
must be ready to forsake houses and lands, and father and 
mother, and brother and sister, and wife and children, and 
all that we have, and all that we love, for him. He who 
stands ready thus to disencumber himself, is already disen- 
cumbered ; and having thus laid aside every weight, it is easy 
for his freed spirit to soar up to heavenly regions, and be 
above the world while he is in it, and be close to the Eternal 
Spirit, while he is yet in the flesh. 

It is needless to particularize further, for under the points 
that have been made, every needful element may be grouped. 
A sincere desire to seek the Lord ; emotions of reverence and 
awe for the Majesty on high, and the embodiment of all per- 
fection ; a sense of self-abased ness ; a consciousness of the 
need of the Great Mediator ; a serene confidence in God's 
promises ; a willingness to lay ourselves and our all upon the 
altar of obedience; — these are steps that lead us nigh to God; 
it may be well not to say the steps, to the exclusion of others ; 
but certainly these steps are Godward, and he who follows 
these will follow others, if others be needed. It is not meant 
that these are all the emotions of which the Christian breast 
is susceptible. There is holy resignation, there is joyful 
acquiescence, together with gratitude and love ; there is joy 
in God, with a peace which passeth understanding. These, 
and various other devout affections, have been passed by, 
because they are perhaps rather the results of being nigh to 
God, than the means by which we draw nigh ; or if this be 



Analysis of ISTeakness to God. 261 

not so, then they are either the outgrowth of the same spirit 
which has been so fully described, or they are but different 
manifestations of it. 

But leaving this last question unsettled, enough has been 
said to give us some apprehension of Avhat is meant by draw- 
ing nigh to God. It is a matter of feeling. "God is a 
Spirit ; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit 
and in truth." But though it be a matter of feeling, yet if 
these feelings do not exhibit themselves in your daily life, 
you are not worshiping in truth ; your feelings are not gen- 
uine, and you are deceiving yourself w4th a false hope. On 
the other hand, if your daily life shows that the feelings 
described are part of your habitual frame, then you are so 
close to God that it can be said of you, as was said of him 
who was translated, that he should not see death, " He walked 
with God." 

II. Supposing the condition to have been complied w^ith, it 
will be agreeable, as well as profitable, to consider the promise 
which is annexed to it, and to form, if we can, some concep- 
tion of what is meant by God's drawing nigh to us. An ade- 
quate conception, it probably is not possible either to present 
or to entertain. There are experiences of the heart which 
cannot be explained to the understanding. We love to be 
with our friends, and every heart knows the joy of being near 
to the loved ; but who could ever convey to one who had 
never felt them the least idea of these emotions ? How tame 
and insufficient any description that could be given ! Human 
language is the instrument of the intellect rather than of the 
soul, and the latter can but very imperfectly express itself 
through such a medium. We need the dialect of another 
sphere, of a spiritual state, in which to give utterance to our 
heart-life. Many of our inner experiences, and especially our 
communings with God, if described as mere intellections, are 
like a sublime poem translated from the original tongue, not 



262 The Old Theology. 

only into another language, but into a meaner ; and, suffering 
much from translation at all, is ruined by the effort to force 
it into a language not capable of containing it. Regarding 
the subject objectively, it will be even still more difficult, if 
possible, to present it adequately ; for the nature of God is so 
far beyond our capacities, that we cannot say or know, in 
exact terms, what he does. Much of our lano-uaore must be 
figurative, and much of it can be appreciated only by those 
whose spiritual intuitions anticipate the sentiment before it is 
expressed. 

But to our theme. In each of the particulars in which 
w^e draw nigh to God, there is a corresponding action on his 
part ; each emotion in our hearts is met by its correlative in 
the divine bosom. 

1. For instance, if we desire to have an interview with 
God, he gratifies the desire by giving us the interview. Is 
not this what the Psalmist meant when he said : " His ears 
are open unto their cry " ? Psa. xxxiv. 15. In another place 
(Psa. cxvi. 2), he says : " Because he hath inclined his ear 
unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live." 
A figure of speech, of course, but a figure of which "the 
orio-inal idea is that of leanino: forward to catch a sound 
otherwise too faint to be distinctly audible ";i and in this 
light, the figure brings out beautifully the thought of God's 
readiness to hear, when we wish to speak ; it is more than 
hearing ; it is listening, listening as if eager to catch the first 
aspiration. God spake to many in ancient days, "face to 
face, as a man speaketh to his friend." Ex. xxxiii. 11. God 
is just as able, and just as willing to hold intercourse wdth his 
people now as he ever was. Why not? Has his nature 
changed ? True, he does not now make visible or audible 
manifestations of his presence, and for this we can see a good 
reason ; but his presence need be none the less real. Angels 

1 Quoted from Alexander on Psalms. 



Analysis of Neaeness to God. 263 

and disembodied spirits doubtless hold communication with 
each other, not oral nor audible, for there is between them 
no atmospheric medium, nor have they organs of speech and 
hearing ; yet who can doubt that their correspondence is far 
more perfect and glorious than any that can be carried on 
by material media? God is a Spirit ; and there is a spiritual 
nature also in man. Does the connection of the latter Avith 
its clay so impair its functions that it is wholly incapable of 
spiritual intercourse? "VVho can prove this? Many phe- 
nomena seem to point the opposite way. Has God so consti- 
tuted us as to cut himself off from communication with us? 
Nay, thousands can testify, as Paul did, that his Spirit has 
borne witness with their spirits. 

There is also far more dignity and sublimity in our posi- 
tion, than in that of those who had outward manifestations. 
A moral perception of things invisible to the natural eye is 
as far superior to physical sight as the spirit is to the clay 
that clogs it. " Seeing him who is invisible " (Heb. xi. 27) 
is a superior perception, that savors of divinity ; for it is thus 
only that God perceives. As there is greater dignity, so 
also there is higher blessing attached to this nobler sight. 
" Thomas," said our Saviour, " because thou hast seen me, 
thou hast believed : blessed are they who have not seen, and 
yet have believed." Observe the distinction made in favor 
of those whose moral convictions outstrip the testimony of 
their senses. We think it would be a o^lorious thinjj; to talk 
with God, as Abraham and Jacob and Moses did. But the 
Christian would be a loser by exchange with the patriarchs. 
Their view of Christ was very dim ; ours is very clear ; and 
it is through him that we have " access to the Father." Eph. 
ii. 18. There can be no real nearness to God, even if he 
were to manifest himself to our natural eyes, except with 
those who know something of his nature, and of his charac- 
ter. Smce he has disclosed himself in his word, and espe- 



264 The Old Theology. 

cially since he has become incarnate in his Son, we have a 
much more perfect knowledge of him, and can therefore 
enjoy far deeper communion with him, than was possible 
before these glorious revelations were made. 

In the assurance of our text there is great encouragement 
to sinners, as well as comfort to saints. It is an invi- 
tation to the vilest. Let such an one but desire to converse 
with God, and God will listen. This is no unscriptural flat- 
terino^ of the souls of men. It is not givino; an unallowable 
emphasis to the text, to say : " Draw nigh to God, and he 
will draw nigh to you." 

2. But we take another view of God's nearness to us. 
Does our reverence for his character prompt us to adore and 
worship him ? He draws nigh to us by accepting our ser- 
vices, and by imbuing us with a consciousness that they are 
accepted. He so controls our spirits too, that it affords us 
delight to think that the poor praises we offer are heard in 
heaven, and excel the sono-s of the an2:els. Nor is this a de- 
lusion. No angel ever sang, as we can do, the song of Moses 
and of the Lamb. No angel's harp was ever tuned by a 
Saviour's hand. No angel choristers ever heard the voice of 
the Great Intercessor mingled with theirs. Our praises may 
be like the rude winds, but passing through the Great Medi- 
ator, as through an ^olian harp set in the window of heaven, 
their harsh tones are softened, and sweetened into melody, 
such as cannot be made on the other side. 

God had respect unto the sacrifice of Abel, not for Abel's 
sake alone, but for ours. By his palpably manifest accept- 
ance of worship at the very beginning of the world, he 
teaches to all the posterity of Adam his willingness to be 
worshiped, and his favor to the worshiper. In numberless 
instances he has miraculously exhibited his acceptance of 
homage ; and this was not for the benefit of the individual, 
but of the race. Is not the acceptance as real now ? Has 



Analysis of Nearness to God. 265 

God changed ? In the exercise of a sublime faitK, the wor- 
shiper now experiences a gratification no less real, and far 
more elevated, than that of those whose sacrifices were con- 
sumed in their sight by fire from heaven. 

3. If we confess our unworthiuess, and thus draw nigh to 
God, he draws correspondingly nigh to us, by enabling us to 
take comfort from those passages in his word which assure 
us that he pities our unworthiuess, and by making us con- 
scious that, unworthy as we are, he is ready to make us 
worthy in the blood of the atonement, and then to receive 
us to his embrace. God comforts the mourner; he binds up 
the broken-hearted ; he lifts up the humble. The prostrate 
sinner he takes by the hand, raises him up, and sweetly 
soothes his sorrows and dissipates his fears. It is no figure 
of speech, it is a literal statement of fact, that the Spirit of 
God does operate directly and immediately on the heart, 
that is, on the feelings, of the truly penitent sinner, and 
relieves, cheers, and comforts him. Is not this drawing 
nio;h ? " Thus saith the hio-h and loftv One that inhabiteth 
eternity, whose name is Holy. I dwell in the high and holy 
place ; with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, 
to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of 
the contrite ones." Isa. Ivii. 15. Is not this just what we 
have been saying ? Hear the evangelical prophet again : 
" He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted ; to com- 
fort all that mourn ; to give unto them beauty for ashes, the 
oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit 
of heaviness." Isa. Ixi. 1-3. Is this a figure of speech ? Or is 
it of doubtful interpretation ? Then hear the Psalmist : " He 
healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds." 
Psa. cxlvii. 3. Modern experience confirms prophecy, or 
rather prophecy confirms experience. There can be no 
doubt of the fact, that the man who draws nigh to God with 
a deep sense of unworthiness will receive comfort imme- 

X 



266 The Old Theology. 

diately from God ; that is, God's Spirit will so influence his 
spirit, in a way which we cannot understand, as to relieve 
and console him. This is what is meant by God's drawing 
nigh to us. 

4. Another phase of the divine mercy is exhibited when 
we draw nigh to God through his Son, Jesus Christ, feeling 
our need of this Great Mediator and Redeemer. Here God 
meets us, by an action on his part corresponding exactly to 
this on ours. His Spirit, acting dii'ectly on our feelings, on 
our consciousness, enables us to realize that Christ is an all- 
sufficient Saviour, and that by him we not only have access 
to special divine attention, but a certain passport to infinite 
mercy. He enables us to rely on Christ with joyous confi- 
dence, and to feel safe and happy in his hands. He shows 
us beauty and loveliness in Christ, wholly unappreciated by 
them that are afar off*. To them that do not believe our 
report, now, as when Isaiah sighed over the infidelity of his 
times, " He hath no form nor comeliness," and, when they 
see him, there is no beauty, that they should desire him. But 
to those that believe, now, as when Peter wrote, " He is 
precious." They see in himself all that is amiable and 
excellent and great. They see in what he has done, ample 
salvation. They see in what he is doing, certain security. 
They see in what he will do, exceeding great reward. No 
man can see all this treasure in Christ, and realize that it is 
his, without help from God ; for the carnal mind is blind to 
these things, and they are spiritually discerned. But a sinful 
man who will come trusting in Christ, though he does not 
see him as he is, nor know much about his character and 
work, will find that God will draw nigh to him, by opening 
his eyes, so that he can see his Saviour as his Saviour. Cast- 
ing away all figure of speech, what is meant is, in literal 
terms, that the Spirit of God will so affect, by means un- 
known to us, the man's mind and feelings, that he will be 



Analysis of Nearness to God. 267 

able to appreciate the value of the Saviour in all his offices. 
Those who appreciate Christ, he appreciates and loves; and 
a bond of union is thus established between them, and they 
are, as it were, identified and united. It is a great thing to 
be one with Christ. Christ is at the right hand of the 
Father, and they who are with him cannot be far from God. 
5. That confidence in the promises of God's word which 
brings us nigh to him, and which has been already spoken of, 
is also duplex in its effect, and superinduces corresponding 
action on his part. His Spirit so operates on our spirits as to 
increase and strengthen our confidence. He makes our faith 
so strong that it becomes to us a source of great delight. 
Nothing is so precious and valuable to a Christian as his 
faith ; and an offer of all the kingdoms of this world, and the 
glory of them, would be no inducement to him to part with 
it, or to consent to the slightest diminution of it. Nor does 
this strong and delightful gift originate with ourselves ; it is 
the gift of God ; it is an actual bestowment ; it is given to the 
saints to believe. Phil. i. 29. Eph. ii. 8. Those who do not 
draw nigh to God never receive this gift. Who ever saw a 
godless man made happy by the promises? The children 
of this world sometimes claim to be happy. Do they draw 
their happiness, or any part of it, from the promises of God ? 
Do they even profess to do so ? Their happiness comes from 
no such source as this, but rather from health, and wealth, 
and family, and friends, and position, and power, with the 
gayeties and pleasures attendant upon those things. But 
whether it be the peasant in his lowly cot, or the royal dis- 
ciple who wears a crown, every Christian will testify that his 
greatest delight is in the promises of the gospel, and will say, 
with the Prince-poet of Israel, "In the multitude of my 
thoughts within me," whether they be of joy or sorrow, " thy 
comforts . delight my soul." Psa. xciv. 19. The Christian 
who follows God only afar off, as some are apt to do, feels a 



268 The Old Theology. 

confidence, which is weak in degree, and supplies only a 
meagre satisfaction. His way is dark, his steps are feeble, 
and he lives in a state of perpetual apprehension. But he 
who can say with the Psalmist, " My soul folio weth hard after 
thee," can also say with him, and with all others who draw 
nigh, " God is our refuge and strength, a very present help 
in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be 
removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst 
of the sea ; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, 
though the mountains shake with the swellino; thereof. Selah. 
The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. 
Selah." Psa. xlvi. 1-3, 7. The man who is far from God 
enjoys no such tranquil assurance as this. Like the guilty 
who suspects an officer behind every bush, fears beset him, 
and the least untoward circumstance alarms him ; the thought 
of news startles him ; he is " afraid of evil tidings." Psa. 
cxii. 7. While this sense of insecurity is chronic with him, the 
sense of safety abides, by day and by night, with him who 
*' dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High," and abideth 
" under the f-hadow of the Almighty." Psa. xci. 1. He is 
" not afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that 
flieth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, 
nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday." Psa. xci. 
5-6. He knows that the Almightiness of God is pledged to 
make all things work together for good to them that love 
him. He knows that the everlasting arm that controls the 
cloud, and the cyclone, and the earthquake, and that upholds 
the world, encircles him. The world may scowl upon him, 
and the Prince of the power of the air may raise a tempest 
about him, and launch his lightnings ; but in vain. Above the 
roar of the storm the Christian's voice may he heard singing — 

Should earth against my soul engage, 

And fiery darts be hurled, 
Then I can smile at Satan's rage, 

And face a frowning world 1 



Analysis of Nearness to God. 269 

Every heart-throb of his life, if it were articulate, would 
say, " I will fear no evil ; for thou art with me." (Psa. xxiii. 
4.) Is not the reason for this fearlessness and quiet suffi- 
cient ? Draw nigh to God, and you will not be unnoticed ; 
nay, you will be received and protected under the shadow of 
the wing of the Almighty. 

6. Finally, when we draw nigh to God by dedicating our- 
selves and our all to him, he meets our advance, by giving us 
in our hearts an assurance that he accepts at our hands that 
which we bring, and that he regards it as a treasure. True, 
God is not made richer by what we give ; still we know that 
he regards our offerings as if he were made richer. However 
worthless in ourselves, we are nevertheless bought with the 
precious blood of Christ, and thus raised to grandeur in 
value. If dignity and worth are not innate, they are never- 
theless engrafted upon us, and we are made " partakers of the 
divine nature " (2 Pet. i. 4) ; and thus it is no small offering, 
nor unworthy the acceptance of the Almighty, which we lay 
upon his altar. Does the expression seem to be too strong ? 
Then let Christ speak for himself: "All mine are thine, and 
thine are mine; and I am glorified in them." (John xvii. 
10.) If the Son is glorified in them, is not the Father also 
glorified ? The man who lays himself on God's altar knows 
that his person and his services are dear to God ; he knows 
what none can know but they who have experienced it, the 
rapture of saying, " Accepted in the beloved." (Eph. i. 6.) 

But this is not all. When we give ourselves to God, he 
draws doubly nigh, by not merely accepting us, but by giving 
himself in return. This, too, seems like saying a great deal, 
and such an expression ought surely to have strong warrant. 
Hear then what Jesus Christ says : " If a man love me, my 
Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make 
our abode with him." John xiv. 23. And on the same line 
of thought, the beloved disciple says : " He that dwelleth in 

X2 



270 The Old Theology. 

love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." 1 John iv. 16. 
Nor is there any warrant for taking away the power of these 
passages by supposing them to be mere figures of speech. It 
is but literal truth and actual fact, ye saints, that the "Spirit 
of truth . . . dwelleth with you, and shall be in you" John xiv. 
17 ; that ye are, indeed, " the temple of the living God." 
2 Cor. vi. 16. Or if uninspired phrase be desired, God 
Almighty does, in some mysterious way, actually and really 
transfuse his Spirit into the spirits of his children. Incom- 
prehensible, indeed, is this confluence of spirits; but the fact 
is set forth in the Scriptures, not for us to comprehend, but 
for us to accept, and for us to enjoy. Revelations are made 
to the heart, which cannot be made to the understanding ; 
and as our moral nature is superior to the intellectual, the 
revelations made to the former are correspondingly superior, 
more glorious, and more divine. This then is the great re- 
ward of drawing nigh to God in self-dedication. God recip- 
rocates the act, and for ourselves he gives us himself. Thus 
is fulfilled that wonderful prayer of our Lord : " That they 
all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that 
they also may be one in us" John xvii. 21; and thus is 
warrant given to that wonderful Scriptural figure, which 
grouping the saints together in the church gives it the all- 
glorious appellation of " The Bride, the Lamb's wife," and 
represents the final consummation of their union in heaven 
as " The marriage supper of the Lamb." 

Now let us recur to the text. " Draw nigh to God," there 
is the service ; " and he will draw nigh to you," there is the 
reward. Is the reward high enough? Those who would not 
be moved by such considerations would seem to be wholly 
out of reach. Surely it must be that they do not see the 
truths that are held up to their view. Surely, they sit in 
darkness, and in the region of the shadow of death, and to 
them no light is sprung up. Have they wandered so far 



Analysis of Nearness to God. 271 

from God, have they plunged so deeply into the abyss of sin, 
that no ray of light even from the eternal throne can find its 
way to their dismal abode? 

It may be well to say, before closing this discussion, that 
we have spoken specifically of what might have been 
expressed in generic terms. God watches all the modes of 
our inner life, no less than he does our outward actions. 
Whatever phenomena occur in these, corresponding, and we 
may say sympathetic, phenomena must occur in the divine 
mind. If God counts our hairs, and notices the fall of one 
of them, he must notice every wave, every ripple, of emotion, 
whether good or l3ad. Towards the good, his love flows out ; 
from the evil, his holiness draws away. He never slumbers 
nor sleeps. Nothing right can fail of his approbation ; noth- 
ing wrong can escape his displeasure. We seem to grasp the 
promise of the text all the better when we see that it is but a 
specific application of a general principle. 

With two or three practical remarks we conclude : 
(1.) Those feelings which constitute a drawing nigh to 
God, we ought to express. We ought to express them in the 
closet, in the family, in the sanctuary, and in the ordinances 
of the Lord's house. Like flame which without outlet is 
smothered and dies, these emotions require utterance ; while, 
as flame is increased and brightened by escape, these holy 
aflections are strengthened, and developed by expression. As 
for those who never express them, they never experienced 
them ; and if they have a hope, it is a false one. 

(2.) We ought not to be satisfied with occasional feelings 
such as have been described, but should endeavor to make 
them habitual. Those who profess to have experienced these 
emotions on a single occasion, or at remote intervals, are 
doubtless either deceived or deceiving, and have no part nor 
lot in the matter. 

There are two obstacles in the way of drawing nigh to 



272 The Old Theology. 

God, which can be mentioned only as the geographer marks 
on his map a quicksand or a shoal. 

The first is an unwillingness to give up sin. Many see the 
reasonableness of the service required, and something of the 
glory of the reward offered ; and there are promptings within 
them, which, if yielded to, would lead them to duty and to its 
rewards ; but their hearts are with the world ; they linger on 
its confines, as Lot's wife did by blazing Sodom. Turn 
away ! be quick ! fly for your lives ! 

Another obstacle is want of confidence. A sinful man 

may feel that in his vileness he would be so hateful to the 

Holy One, that it would be needless for him to attempt to 

come. But consider this : Away from God you must perish ; 

you can but perish if you come. Queen Esther once said in 

desperation, " So will I go in unto the king, which is not 

according to the law; and if I perish, I perish." But for you 

to come to the King is according to law ; nay, it is the law 

and commandment of the King that you shall come. Come, 

then, fearlessly. The golden sceptre was extended to the 

Persian Queen, with the promise of half Ahasuerus' kingdom. 

Draw nigh to the King in Zion, and the golden sceptre will 

be extended to you, with all the promises recorded in the 

word of God. 

Nearer, my Grod, to thee, 

Nearer to thee ! 
E'en tlioiigh it be a cross 

That raiseth me ; 
Still all my song shall be 
Nearer, my God, to thee I 

Nearer to thee ! 



SERMON XVI. 
MULTIFORM LOVE. 

*' Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, 
the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." — Matthew xii. 60. 

THAT is no feeble tie of affection that exists between 
brothers. God has so ordered, and wisely ordered, that 
those who owe their being to the same parents, and a large 
part of whose life must of necessity be spent together, should 
entertain for each other the warmest emotions of love. From 
earliest infancy, through boyhood and youth, and on to man- 
hood, there exist between them common interests, enjoy- 
ments, sorrows, hopes, and fears. This of itself would tend 
to beget a strong feeling of mutual regard; but all this is 
small when compared to the consciousness of the parties that 
their origin is identical and their blood the same. Even if 
brothers be separated in early infancy by some accident, and 
never meet until mature manhood, the moment they do meet 
and recognize each other as brothers, feelino^s of intensest 
interest will spring up between them. By some mysterious 
law brothers' love will spring into life, instantaneously ma- 
ture. Such is the effect of kindred, and such the power of 
the fraternal tie. 

This peculiar form in which human affection manifests 
itself is one of the forms of affection with which Christ claims 
to regard his people. " Whosoever shall do the will of my 
Father which is in heaven," says he, " the same is my 
brother." He does not say he is like my brother," but, 
claiming kindred, he says " he is my brother." It is de- 
lightful to think, that that Saviour on whom we rely for our 

273 



274 The Old Theology. 

eternal welfare, is not a stranger, nor even a mere acquaint- 
ance, nor yet a mere friend; but that he is actually a brother, 
and that he declares hiraself to entertain for us every feeling 
that a brother could cherish. 

There is no good emotion in the human breast, that is not 
felt by the Almighty. Our feelings are but a counterpart of 
his, and, so far as they go, are like them. So if we would 
know what his feelings are, we have a sample of them in our 
own bosoms. All the difference is, that our feelings are im- 
perfect and finite, while his are perfect and infinite. We are 
made in his image, his moral image ; i. e., our moral feelings, 
our affections, are like his. That strong yearning which 
brothers feel for each other, our Saviour feels for us, only in 
infinitely greater degree than mortals ever know. 

Our Saviour seems to take peculiar pleasure in claiming 
this relationship with his disciples. Just after he had risen 
from the dead, he said, " Go tell my brethren that they go 
into Galilee, and there they shall see me " ; or, as another 
evangelist more fully records it, " Go to my brethren, and say 
unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father ; and 
to my God, and your God " ; thus, as it were, confirming the 
tie of brotherhood by claiming a common paternity. An 
apostle, speaking of the unity which flows from this common 
parentage, says, " Both he that sanctifieth and they who are 
sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed 
to call them brethren.-" In another place the same apostle 
says, " For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate 
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be 
the first-born among many brethren." The picture of broth- 
erhood is here made the more glowing, by the reference to 
the family likeness which exists between Christ and his peo- 
ple ; a likeness stronger than that between brothers when they 
most resemble each other, " Whom he did predestinate to be 
conformed to the image of his Son." True, the resemblance 



Multiform Love. 275 

now may seem to be but feeble. It is like that between a 
mature man, and his infant brother of a day old. The 
elements of resemblance are there, though they can scarcely 
be seen. But time wall develop them. When we have at- 
tained to the stature of perfect men in Christ Jesus, which we 
never can do until we reach a world where there is no sin, 
then will the resemblance be gloriously manifest. We shall 
one day " fall asleep," marred by sin as we are ; but when 
we awake, we shall " awake with his likeness." Christ fore- 
sees this perfect resemblance, — its element he now sees, — the 
relationship which gives rise to it now exists ; " for which 
cause he is not ashamed" now " to call us brethren," nor un- 
willing to admit us to a corresponding intimacy. 

But further than this. There is a peculiar regard which 
a right-hearted man has for his sister, differing somewhat 
from that which he feels for a brother. In the former case 
there is a tenderness in the tie, that does not exist in the 
latter. It is an affection, whose fibre and texture are more 
delicate than in the love we have for those of our own sex, and 
yet it is not weaker for this greater softness, but stronger. 
If one be like a hempen cord, the other is a cord of silk, 
more tenacious though finer; or, changing the figure, the love 
for a sister is like that for a brother passed through the 
furnace one more time — once more refined, purged of dross 
and purified. 

Our Saviour, not satisfied with expressing a brother's 
affection, would seem in our text, to assert also this form or 
manifestation of love. He claims to exercise towards us 
fraternal feelings, in this its highest form of development, 
and in this its utmost degfree of refinement. Do we reo-ard 
with affectionate respect the pure and hallowed forms of our 
sisters? Christ regards with far higher esteem the persons 
of those whom his blood has made pure and sanctified. Are 
we ready to protect and defend our sisters? to supply their 



276 The Old Theology. 

wants, and shield their weakness? to throw ourselves between 
them and those that would harm them, or even tov^h them 
rudely, or throw a stain upon their names? Christ exercises 
the same feelings of jealous care and tenderness towards them 
whom he loves. " Whosoever shall do the will of my Father 
which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister." 

But there is another relation, which gives rise to emotions 
quite diiferent from any we have yet described. I refer to 
that most tender relationship which one sustains to his 
mother. She is the object of our earliest affections. The 
very first being one learns to love is his mother. As he 
throws his infant arms around her neck, so the first and purest 
affections of his heart entwine themselves around hers. He 
has not yet been corrupted by this wicked world. He is in a 
state of comparative innocency — purer then than he ever is 
afterwards; and the affection that he has for his mother is 
the only one that he has then, when his heart is unsoiled and 
at its best. And as it is his first love, so also it is his last. 
There is no divorce from one's mother. There is no con- 
tingency in this life that can dissolve the tenderness, or 
weaken the power of that tie. But whatever there is 
peculiar in this affection pertains also to the love of Christ ; 
for says he : " Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which 
is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother." 
Thus he avails himself of this tender and sacred relationship, 
as well as of the others, in order to illustrate his feeling 
for us. His own mother was standing by, whom he loved 
and revered. To her, he had been an obedient son ; for the 
evangelist tells us that he was " subject " to his parents in the 
season of youth. Of her, he thought and spoke, and pro- 
vided for her comfort, when he hung upon the cross. Yet 
when this very mother " stood without desiring to speak with 
him," instead of at once obeying her summons, he lingered 
and said: "Who is my mother? Whosoever shall do the 



Multiform Love. 277 

will of my Father, . . . the same is my mother." Thus by 
a momentary seeming neglect of the first friend he ever had 
in this world, and doubtless the tenderest, and certainly one 
of the firmest ; and by seeming to forget, and almost to deny, 
his relationship to her; and by applying to his disciples the 
epithet that belonged to her, he evinced for them an affection 
similar in kind to the sacred and tender regard we owe to 
our mothers, but greater in degree. 

" A threefold cord," says the proverb of Solomon, " is not 
easily broken." Here is a threefold cord, composed of the 
love of " brother, and sister, and mother." But leaving the 
phraseology of the text, yet in pursuance of its principle, we 
may observe that in other parts of the Scripture almost all 
the other domestic relations are referred to, in order to illus- 
trate the varied powers of the love of Christ. On one occa- 
sion our Saviour said to his disciples, in fatherly tones, 
" Children, have ye any meat? " And if we regard Christ as 
co-equal and identical with the Divine Being, and the Author 
of life, it is easy to concede that he is the " Everlasting 
Father," as well as the Prince of peace. Whatever pecu- 
liarity, then, there is in a father's affection for his children, 
exists also, only in a greater degree, in Christ's affection 
for us. 

But we all know that parental feeling as experienced by a 
father is not exactly like that of a mother. There is a sort 
of deathless power in the love of a mother for the child of her 
own bosom that seems sometimes to outrival every other 
form in which human affections develop themselves. There 
is about it a peculiar unction, and fragrance, and tenderness, 
and energy. Yet, says the prophet Isaiah, speaking of the 
love of the Holy One, " Can a mother forget her sucking 
child ? Yea, she may forget ; yet will I not forget thee." 
Whatever peculiarity there is in a mother's love is also to be 
found in the love of Christ. 

Y 



278 The Old Theology. 

There is another domestic relation whose tie is stronger 
than either of those that we have been considering, or than 
all of them. I refer to that most profound emotion that 
ever absorbs the human soul — conjugal love. But whatever 
there is in this aiFection that is endearing above all others, is 
found also in the love of Christ. The union between hus- 
band and wife seems to be the favorite one used in the word 
of God to designate the union between Christ and his people 
"Come hither," said the angel, speaking to John of the 
church, "and I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife"; 
and says the writer, " I John saw the holy city, the new Jeru- 
salem, coming down from God out of heaven, as a bride 
adorned for her husband." 

Nor is this all. We know that there is a peculiar affection 
that exists between friends, as such, entirely different from 
the love of kindred, and yet in some instances scarcely less 
warm and ardent. Christ, as if to exhaust the whole cata- 
logue of human affections, has not only gone around the 
family circle, and claimed the peculiarities of the love arising 
from each relationship, but has left that circle, and claims 
also to be bound to us by all that is sacred and dear in the tie 
of friendship. Says he, " I call you not servants ; I have called 
you friends" So, also, there is a peculiar affection that a 
pastor has for the people of his care. This, too, Christ claims 
to feel; for he is the great Pastor, the great Shepherd, who 
laid down his life for his sheep. There may be a peculiar 
form of affectionate regard that a king has for his sub- 
jects. If so, its qualities may be found in the love of 
Christ; for he is King in Zion. Thus might the same 
principle be pursued through all the rounds of relations 
known among men, and it would appear that there is no 
element of love as exercised by us that is not found in the 
love of Christ; and that there is no stimulus to the affec- 
tions here that has not its counterpart in the bosom of our 



MuLTiFOKM Love. 279 

Divine Redeemer. The whole must include all the parts; 
and, since " God is love," must not his nature be a syn- 
thesis or combination of all that constitutes love? 

Facts enough have now been presented — particularly as 
the number might obviously be increased to an almost indefi- 
nite extent — to warrant us in the induction of a principle. 
The principle w^ill be found to be important, and to lead to 
valuable results. It is this : Every relation between moral 
beings, gives rise to a peculiar set of emotions ; and it may be 
added that if the relation is a happy one, the emotions arising 
from it are affectionate. The truth of the principle will be 
recognized, when we glance back at the ground over which 
we have come. The relation between parent and child, gives 
rise to an affection peculiarly its own ; so also from the rela- 
tion of husband and wufe, there springs a specific and con- 
natural affection which nothing but this relation can produce 
or excite; and the relation of brother and sister elicits a 
manifestation of love, characterized by different marks from 
any other form of affection. The same principle will evidently 
hold good through all possible relations, known and unknown. 

Now Christ sustains some relations to us that we do not 
sustain to each other, and cannot. Hence, he has some affec- 
tions for us, which are different from anything we ever felt, 
and cannot be illustrated by anything of which we have any 
knowledo;e. For instance, if we reo-ard Christ as the o^reat 
Creator — for without him was not anything made that was 
made — he then sustains to us the relation of a Creator to his 
creatures. This relation, applying our principle, must, like 
all other moral relations, be the source of an affection such as 
could spring from no other source. What this affection is, 
we do not know ; and we never can know ; for the relation of 
Creator, from which it springs, is one which we never can 
sustain. But as this is the sublimest of all relations, it is but 
reasonable to infer that the affection which flows from it is 



280 The Old Theology. 

the most transcendent of all afiections. Like begets like, in 
the nature of God, as well as in the nature of things. And 
if a meagre and short-lived relationship begets a correspond- 
ing kind of regard, why should not the sublime and eternal 
relationship which an Almighty Creator bears to his crea- 
tures, give birth to an affection commensurately glorious and 
profound ? It is but a rational inference that the love of a 
Creator as far surpasses in power, in tenderness, and in ardor 
all affections of which we have any knowledge, as the act of 
creation surpasses any action of which we are capable. 
With our perceptions enlightened by this conclusion, and 
our minds enlarged by its contemplation, we may possibly 
form some faint idea of what our Saviour means, when he 
says, " God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life." 

When some time ago we saw that the love of Christ was 
like that of a brother, we felt happy in the endearing relation. 
When added to this, there was the peculiar tenderness of the 
love of a sister, we felt a precious delight that we never 
knew before. When added to this, there was the fervor of a 
mother's love ; and when added to this again, was the varied 
strength of every other tie known to mortals, in any relation- 
ship they do or can sustain to each other, we felt a happy 
nearness to our Saviour, and a joyous confidence in the eter- 
nal strength of the bond of union between us. But now from 
the relation of Creator, there springs a new affection, so far 
surpassing all that exists among men, that they seem as 
nothing. If every conceivable tie of human endearment 
were united, the bond thus formed by the combination would 
seem by comparison to be but a thread — a hair which a 
breeze might break, while that inconceivable bond of love 
which springs from the sublime relation of Creator is like a 
cable on which the universe is suspended. 



Multiform Love. 281 

I have said that the relation of Creator is the most orlo- 
rious and exalted of all relations. Perhaps I was wrong. It 
may be — perhaps there is little doubt of it — that the relation 
of Redeemer is more glorious. It may be that in the divine 
contemplation the act of redemption holds far higher rank 
than the act of creation. There are reasons for believing 
that this is so ; and if so, Christ is bound to us by far dearer 
ties as his redeemed, than as his creatures. As his creatures, 
he spoke us into being ; we were created, as it were, by a 
breath. But as his redeemed, we are they for whom he for- 
sook his throne, assumed our nature, put on flesh, was cruci- 
fied, poured out his blood, and died. Here the power of our 
conceptions is entirely exhausted. Up to this point, we have 
not been so. entirely at fault. When we considered the love 
arising- from the relation of Creator, we were conscious that 
we could know nothing of it. Yet perhaps it was not so far 
beyond our capacities but that we could imagine ourselves to 
form some faint conception of its nature. But if there be 
another form of love still higher than this, and springing 
from a relation more glorious ; if the culminating point of 
the one be but the starting point of the other, — for if we had 
not been infinitely dear as his creatures, we should never 
have been his redeemed, — our minds recoil. We have seen 
none of the glory ; for no man hath seen it, nor can see. We 
are blinded by excess of light. 

Yet this is not all. In our Saviour's memorable prayer, 
addressing his Father in reference to his people, he says: 
" Thine they were, and thou gavest them me." So then he 
sustains to us a new relation, from the fact that he has re- 
ceived us as his by the gift of the Father. We know not 
but that this relation is more tender than any we have yet 
considered. As Christ's redeemed we are his, by an act of 
his own ; but in the new relation now under consideration we 
are his, by an act of his eternal Father. May we not sup- 

Y2 



282 The Old Theology. 

pose that, in the estimation of the Son, this last relation out- 
ranks the former? Qualities which are incorporated upon 
an object frequently make it more precious than those which 
are intrinsic. A gift is valued, not merely for what it is 
worth, but because it is a gift. If the same thing were ours 
by our own act of purchase, its value might be comparatively 
small ; but as it is a gift, we prize it because of the giver. It 
seems to partake of the qualities and merits of the giver. In 
proportion as the giver is honored, revered, and loved, in that 
proportion the gift is precious, and elicits the warmest and 
tenderest emotions of the soul. 

What infinite endearment binds in eternal union the per- 
sons of the Godhead ! " Thine they were, and thou gavest 
them me." Is not the gift invested with infinii?3 loveliness, 
in view of the source whence it comes ? Is not the relation 
thus created unparalleled even by the relations of Creator 
and Kedeemer? It can be no heresy to imagine that it is 
so. Now if every relation has an aifection of its own, and if 
that affection develops the powers of the soul in proportion 
to the tenderness and dignity of the source whence it springs, 
what shall we say of the love springing from a relation, be- 
fore which the sublime relations of Creator and Redeemer 
stand diminished! 

But there are other relations of a lower degree than those 
last referred to, which must yet give rise to affections that 
greatly enhance the love of Christ. A teacher, who affec- 
tionately imparts rich stores of instruction to admiring pupils, 
iusatiate of knowledge, sustains to them a relation not desti- 
tute of power to develop an affection of its own. Doubtless, 
many will bear witness with me that the thought of some 
revered preceptor, even after long years of separation, will 
give rise to emotions tender and tearful. Nor is this affection 
without a correlative. We love those whom we instruct. If 
we even select a favorite plant, and daily water and cherish 



Multiform Love. 283 

it, our feelings become enlisted ; we take peculiar pleasure in 
its growth and beauty, and a sigh of regret escapes us when 
we leave it, or when storms destroy it. How much greater 
the rapture to behold an immortal spirit bud and bloom and 
bear precious fruit, under our culture ! How affectionate the 
complacency with which we look upon excellence that has 
been the growth of our care and toil ! In an eternal world, 
our Divine Saviour, who taught us by precept and example 
here, will still be our Teacher, and unfold to us forever " the 
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God." If in 
this world our affections receive a peculiar kind of stimulus 
from this relation, in which there is more of intellectuality 
than sentiment, may we not suppose that in the world to 
come the same relation will impart a stimulus the same in 
kind, but as far superior in degree as the tuition of heaven is 
superior to the feeble teachings of earth ? 

But if the mere communication of instruction to the mind 
gives rise to an affectionate relation, ought not the actual 
communication of virtue to the soul to beget a relation as far 
superior as moral excellence is to intellectual power ? If so, 
be it remembered that Christ is made to us, not only " wis- 
dom," but "sanctification." When he looks upon us in his 
Father's kingdom, forever developing more and more beauty, 
excellence, and majesty, all as the result of the shedding of his 
blood, think you not that he will look upon his sanctified ones 
with a vearnino* which he would not feel but for that relation ? 

Moreover : we are the subjects of the everlasting cove- 
nant between the Father and the Son ; and we know not 
how glorious may be the relation thus created, nor how pro- 
found the affection that flows from it. Furthermore : There 
may be, there doubtless are, an indefinite number of other 
relations, whose glorious qualities exceed our conceptions, 
and which beget innumerable other forms and manifestations 
of the divine love. Perhaps in another world we shall learn 



284 The Old Theology. 

some of them ; but probably there are many, of which our 
conceptions, even in the remotest ages of eternity, will be 
very inadequate. 

But to return to the phraseology of the text : " Whosoever 
shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same 
is my brother, and sister, and mother." Each one of the 
endearing relations here referred to gives rise, as has already 
often been said, to an affection peculiar to itself. It is 
worthy of remark, that we exercise only one of these forms 
of affection towards one person. But in the love of Christ 
to each one of his disciples, the power, the unction, the ten- 
derness, and every shade of every excellence of all these 
varied forms of love, are united. His disciple, he says, is 
his " brother, and sister, and mother." We give to a father, 
or mother, or sister, or friend, all the love that that relation- 
ship begets, and no more, thus exhausting only one depart- 
ment of our moral feelings ; but the love of Christ exhausts 
all the powers of the human soul : for he gives to each indi- 
vidual disciple that whole round of varied and diverse affec- 
tions that we divide among all our domestic and social 
relations ; and besides all this, he loves each one with the 
more varied and more ardent affections springing from other 
and more glorious relations such as we know nothing of. Our 
affections gurgle up from a thousand different springs within 
us, and each one trickles off in a little rill by itself, each 
pursuing a different course and reaching a different point. 
But in the bosom of Christ there are all the thousand springs 
of love that we have, sending off their little rills just as ours 
do; and, besides this, there are with him innumerable other 
and larger springs, whence great rivers gush ; and all these 
countless rills and rivers do not run off in different directions 
as ours do, but riin together, and are united in one vast river, 
every drop of whose ceaseless flood is infinite blessing to each 
individual believer. 



MuLTiFOEM Love. 285 

If it be true that in the love of Christ for each disciple 
are united all the forms and powers of love that have been 
specified or referred to, it follows that he virtually stands to 
us in every relation, and is therefore our ALL ; and in this 
fact is there not involved a new relation, overtopping even 
the sum of all the others ? The very fact that he is " All 
AND IN all" to us, is itsclf a distinct relation, with idio- 
syncrasies of its own ; and, from this, it would seem that there 
must spring an appropriate affection, marked with all the in- 
dividuality and infiniteness of its parent relation. If so, the 
aggregate of all these varied relations that have been spoken 
of produces something more than the mere power of accumu- 
lation. For when all the powers of love are added together 
there accrues a new relation, and, consequently, a new power, 
to be superadded to the former aggregate. What the measure 
of this new power may be we know not ; but in an eternal 
■world, among other sublime discoveries, it may be ours to 
learn that the love of Christ, with its multipotent energies, is 
a grand composite, of which all prime affections are but the 
factors. 

And now, my brethren, in view of the love of Christ for 
us, how ought we to feel towards him ? How can we ever 
reciprocate as we ought such affection ? Oh, the love that 
we have to our kindred, however endearing the tie, how feeble 
it ought to be in comparison with the love we bear to our 
Lord Jesus Christ! Father, mother, brother, sister, wife, 
child, tender indeed and stronger than life and death are the 
ties that bind us to these ; but, if they were all united, let 
them be but a rope of sand, when compared to that eternal tie 
that binds us to our Saviour. Christ himself has used 
stronger language than this. " If any man come to me and 
hate not his father, and mother, and wife and children, and 
brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, be cannot be 
my disciple." Luke xiv. 26. 



286 The Old Theology. 

Can it be possible that, in view of the amazing love of 
Christ, there are those in whose bosoms not an echo of recip- 
rocal emotion is awakened? Surely they cannot be living 
men. These are they of whom the Holy Ghost says, that 
they are " dead in trespasses and sins." Are there those 
who, professing to be his people, love their houses, or their 
lands, or their money, more than they love their Saviour? 
How depraved, how perverted, how lost to all that is excel- 
lent ! How can they be happy in that world where there 
are no houses nor lands, where money is of no avail, where 
property does not exist, and where the only treasure is in 
Christ ? Those only to whom Christ is precious in this life, 
can enjoy him in the life to come. 

But, my brethren, let us return to our text : " Whosoever 
shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same 
is my brother, and sister, and mother." No doubt we have 
all rejoiced in the delightful assurance which these words 
convey, and have luxuriated in the application of the prin- 
ciple which they seem to imply. But perhaps our rejoicing 
has not been on proper grounds. There is one clause of our 
text not noticed as yet, which describes the persons who may 
appropriate to themselves its benediction. " Whosoever 
shall 6?o," mark the word, " whosoever shall do the will of 
my Father." This is the descriptive phrase, which narrows 
down the circle of appropriators to a very small class. Your 
rejoicing may be just in proportion as you have evidence 
that you are doing his will. Your feelings may class you 
among the saints, but your actions and your life may award 
you a different classification. If so, our text contains no 
promise nor blessing for you. Its blessing is restricted to 
them that " do " his w ill. But here is a saying of our 
Saviour which you may appropriate : " Every one that haar- 
eth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be 
likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the 



Multiform Love. 287 

sand ; and the rain descended^ and the floods came, and the 
winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell ; and great 
was the fall of it." Take heed, you that think you rejoice in 
the love of Christ, lest you be building your houses upon the 
sand. 

But there are some who do his will, and thus prove that 
they love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. These are 
they to whom Christ claims the relation of " brother, and 
sister, and mother." These are they to whom all the exuber- 
ant treasures of our text, yea, all the infinite treasures of the 
word of God, are' appropriated. Their Saviour watches all 
their course with tenderness and incessant care, and in due 
time will receive them with joy into the embrace of everlast- 
ing love. 

AVith what delight would a brother welcome a brother to 
the portals of heaven. How joyfully would one see a sister 
or a mother enter those everlasting doors. AVith what rap- 
ture would a mother welcome her children to her arms in the 
kingdom of the Redeemer. But all this is nothing, and less 
than nothing, compared to the glowing rapture, fervor, and 
love with which our Saviour will say to them who do his 
will, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
prepared for you from the foundation of the W'orld." 



SERMON XVII. 

GOD'S ETERNAL PURPOSE. 

"All things work together for good to them that love God."— 
Romans viii. 28. 

DID the apostle mean by this expression all that it can be 
made to mean ? Did he mean literally that all things, 
giving the widest possible construction to the words, work 
together for good? Perhaps not. The context seems to 
indicate that he had soecial reference to our " infirmities," 
that is, to our trials and sorrows. These are our chastise- 
ments, which are ' for our profit, that we may be partakers 
of his holiness." Heb. xii. 10. Elsewhere the apostle says, 
" For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh 
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," 
2 Cor. iv. 17 ; and in view of such things, he says, in another 
place, " We glory in tribulations also." Rom. v. 3. In this 
morning's text, the apostle seems to limit his meaning to the 
infirmities, afflictions, and tribulations, referred to in the con- 
text, and in various other passages. Yet there are careful 
students of Scripture who are of the opinion that the most 
extended meaning may be fairly given to the words of the 
text. In any event, it is certain that if the apostle had used 
the words in their widest and most literal sense, he would 
have said no more than is true, and no more than he has 
virtually said in other places. A few of many such expres- 
sions may be referred to : " All things are yours, .... 
whether the world, or life, or death, or things present, or 
things to come, all are yours ; and ye are Christ's, and Christ 
288 



God's Eteenal Purpose. 289 

is God's." 1 Cor. iii. 17. " All thiugs are for your sakes." 
2 Cor. iv. 15. In the very chapter from which the text is 
taken, the apostle says, " He that spared not his own Son, 
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him 
also freely give us all things ? " Ver. 32. The original word 
for all things (nd'^ra) is the same in the passage last quoted 
as in our text, and is at a distance of a very few lines from 
it, one being in the twenty-eighth verse, and the other in the 
thirty-second ; and in the latter instance the word Qravra) is 
certainly not limited to any restricted sense. In the very 
same chapter, also, at ver. 17, the saints are said to be " heirs 
of God." What do these words mean ? and what is it to be 
an heir of God ? Can words be framed to mean more than 
these ? Yet to bring out the thought even more distinctly, 
and to show that he meant all that he said, and to increase 
the emphasis, the apostle adds, that we are "joint heirs with 
Christ." Is there any limit to the meaning in this case? 
What is Christ's inheritance? Whatever it may be, the 
saints hold it in jointure with him, and the limits of their 
inheritance, if there be any, are co-extensive with the limits 
of his. His has no limits; and he himself says, "To him 
that overcometh w'ill I grant to sit with me in my throne, 
even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father 
in his throne." Rev. iii. 21. Can any language be more 
comprehensive? Can words mean more? Take all these 
passages together, and can there be any doubt about their 
signification ? In the text, the apostle may, or may not, have 
used the words in their most comprehensive, and most ex- 
haustive sense; but he might truthfully so have used them, and 
as the sentiment is corroborated by many other Scriptures, 
we feel at liberty to use the text in this way ; selecting it in 
preference to others, simply because it is the only one which, 
in addition to the unbounded promise, conveys the idea of 
the universal co-operation of the "all things," and this co- 

z 



290 The Old Theology. 

operation is the point which it is our object, on this occasion, 
more especially to develop. 

"All things work together for good to them that love 
God." 

The fragments of the text, taken separately, convey dis- 
tinct and complete ideas. The first three words declare that 
all things work. All God's creations are laborers ; all things, 
without exception, work. All animated nature is busy ; not 
only so, things inanimate, things which we describe as passive, 
are still at work. Even the senseless clod is at M^ork. Ever 
since the moment of its creation it has been steadily exerting 
the silent, but potent, influence of gravitation, and thus doing 
its share in keeping the universe in balance. Not that power 
resides in matter, but that all matter has the power of the 
Almighty applied to it, which makes it efficient for carrying 
out his purposes. Work is the law of the universe. There is 
nothing idle. Everything that was made was made for a 
purpose ; and so long as it exists it must bear on that purpose. 
It never loses a moment of its time. It exists only by God's 
will ; its time is therefore his time, and God can never lose. 
Every event that occurs is for a purpose, and has behind it the 
energy of an omnipotent will, that knows no lagging and 
which will thrust its influence on until it has accomplished its 
end. To suppose that there is anything that does not work 
is to suppose either that it exists independently of God, or 
that he ordained it without a purpose ; and neither of these 
suppositions can be for a moment endured. If all the events 
and things of eternity could speak, each one of the millions 
might say, as Christ once said, " My Father worketh hitherto, 
and I work." Nothing that God controls is in vain ; and 
God controls all. 

That your mind may be possessed with the thought of 
work, imagine yourself to go into a factory where a thousand 
wheels are whirling, some of them humming with untold 



God's Eternal Purpose. 291 

rapidity, and some more slowly, but steadily pursuing their 
circuit. The bands from one to another hasten through their 
rapid and ceaseless round ; the operative keep pace with the 
machinery. You speak, but no one has time to answer. The 
din of business drowns your voice, and above all rises the 
thunder of the great driving wheel without, mingled with 
the roar of the cataract that turns it. Wherever you cast 
your eye you see motion, motion, motion, rapid or slow, but 
steady and tireless. Your head swims as you reel through 
this maelstrom of a thousand energies ; and, as the same 
whirl of business that drew you in casts you out, you think, 
surely, work, work, work, is the law of this place. What is 
idle ? Nothing ! Everything works ! 

Oh ! if we had ears to hear the secrets of the unseen 
world, the deep groanings of the whole creation in stupendous 
travail ; if we had eyes to see all things visible and invisible 
in the wide universe of God, each and all at work for God, 
how should we be overwhelmed! No created being could 
endure the condition. The very thought is crushing. Planets 
whirl through space at work; suns blaze at their work; so, 
down to the dust, the atoms are at work ; everything that has 
life is at work, from angels to insects ; our conceptions work ; 
the extremest attenuation of thought does work. From the 
greatest to the least, from the least to the greatest, all beings, 
things, and events are workers, and ever have been, and ever 
will be. From the moment of creation, eternity, filled with 
activities, resounds with the roar of a universe at work. The 
prophet, speaking of the wind, that " whirleth about continu- 
ally, and returneth again according to his circuits," and of 
the rivers, that run into the sea, and return again to the 
place whence they came, illusti-ating the ceaseless unrest of 
creation, well exclaims, " All things are full of labor ; 7nan 
cannot utter it" Ecc. i. 8. 

Another fragment of the text can be used without injuring 



292 The Old Theology. 

the entirety. All things work together. Each event that 
occurs is not a distinct affair, separate and to itself, having 
no connection with anything else, but is only one item in the 
great series of things, all of which " work together." There is 
no one event or thing that ever did or ever will exist or 
occur, that is dissociated from all others. It is impossible for 
any one fact to stand alone ; each fact leans upon some other 
fact ; all facts lean on each other in a system of universal 
dependences. There can no more be a class of things 
detached and seo^reo^ated, than there should be a sinorle thinoj 
thus cut off* and isolated. All events and things in both the 
moral and physical universe are warped, and woofed, and 
woven together in one continuous whole ; so that if a single 
one of these events or things were taken out, a thread would 
be missing from beginning to end, and the whole texture 
would ravel. 

We cannot think of God, but as a systematic God ; there 
must be system in all his operations. Rising on this thought 
we reach another, and a superior ; all God's operations form 
but one system ; nor is it possible, that there should be more 
than one. If there were two or more, and they did not con- 
spire to promote God's object in creation, that fact would 
argue either a divine inconsistency, or a failure of the divine 
plans ; and if they did thus conspire, they would work together 
and form but one system. There can be but one set of princi- 
ples in the divine nature, and these must be harmonious with 
each other. So even supposing the Almighty to create different 
systems from diff*erent motives, and with different objects in 
view, which doubtless he has done, yet those motives being 
all rooted in the nature of God, must be related to each 
other, and so consequently must be the objects that result 
from them. Thus, if he creates one system to promote his 
own glory, and another to bless his creatures, they must 
reciprocally affect each other; for whatever promotes his 



God's Eternal Purpose. 293 

glory blesses his creatures, and whatever blesses his creatures 
promotes his glory. So long as there is unity in the nature 
of God, there must be unity in his designs, and unity in their 
results. God is one God ; his nature is a unit ; his truth is a 
unit ; his universe is a unit. The work of the Almighty does 
not consist of separate little tasks independent of each other, 
but of one vast entirety, consistent with itself, wide as 
creation, and endless as eternity. God's work must be worthy 
of himself. It would not be so if it consisted of unconnected 
patches and shreds. To be worthy of an infinite God all 
things must be not only efficient, but co-efficient, working 
together to produce an infinite whole. Thus the infinite 
series of past, present, and future events may be compared to 
an endless succession of cogged wheels, playing into each 
other ; and if a cog be lost from one of the wheels the jar 
would be felt at every rotation over the whole system. Every 
event or thing is one of these wheels or one of these cogs ; no 
one of them works by itself, but plays into another, and that 
into another, and thus through to the end, so that " all things 
work together." 

It may aid us in our conceptions of the universality of 
this principle to notice some of its operations on a smaller 
scale. Here, then, is the world on which we tread, governed 
by certain laws of gravitation and motion ; it revolves on its 
axis, and around the sun, and it promotes God's glory thus ; 
but it is only a part of the solar system, and it revolves 
together and works together with others ; it is but one of a 
team of worlds that courses along the sky. Our whole system 
may be revolving around some other system, and that around 
another, and that again around another, until, at last, the 
central sun around which all revolve may be larger in its 
diameter or in its radius than the distance from the earth to 
a fixed star." But however vast the entire system may be, its 
parts all work together harmoniously. 

Z2 



294 The Old Theology. 

Descending now to still smaller matters, we see that every 
animal frame is a system whose parts work together. Take, 
for example, the human body. The action of the stomach on 
the food converts it into chyle and other juices, and these 
produce the blood ; the action of the lungs exposes the blood 
to the air, which vitalizes it, and the action' of the heart sets 
it in motion ; the arteries and veins supply it with channels 
of circulation, and it reproduces flesh, and bone, and sinew, 
W'hile the feet convey all to the place of labor, which the 
hands perform, under the guidance of the eye and ear, and 
thus the whole system works together. 

The world and the elements work together ; the parts of 
the animal system work together, and these two work 
together. We cultivate the ground, and it is the combined 
action of the terrestrial elements with the labor of man that 
either beautifies the earth or feeds its inhabitants ; yet not 
without the co-operation of another worker ninety millions 
of miles away, but for whose light and heat the blighted seed 
would rot in the ground. Man and beast work together at 
the same plough ; but if the earth, and the air, and the cloud, 
and the sun, and we know not what else, were not to aid in 
the w'ork, all would be in vain. 

All things work together. It may further aid our con- 
ceptions to observe that some things are made to work 
together whose nature is utterly diverse. No two things 
are so thoroughly dissimilar, and incompatible, as mind and 
matter; yet even these are brought into harmonious co- 
operation. It takes mind and matter both to make a man; 
and it is the invisible and intangible that supplies not only 
the intelligence, but the power; for the body without the 
spirit is as insensate as any other clay. How is it that spirit, 
which is at the farthest possible remove from matter, should 
be combined with it, and united to it, so as to form a 
homogeneous whole? We cannot explain, but the fact is 



God's Eternal Purpose. 295 

before us. And as we work together with all things that 
pertain to this world, whether animate or inanimate, so too 
there is a spirit world, where doubtless all things harmonize, 
at least as well as they do here, and these angelic ones work 
together with us ; " for are they not all ministering spirits sent 
forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation ? " 

Yes, all thino^s work too-ether. There is not a sinirle 
thing, past, present, or to come, in all the universe of mind 
or matter that is not compelled by almighty force to flow in 
the same channel with everything else, and to flow peacefully, 
and to contribute to one grand result. It is as though all 
were liquid, and though there be innumerable kinds of fluid, 
they are all brought to flow in one channel, and made to turn 
one great wheel, not a drop being lost or wasted, every drop 
doing part of the work, and thus being auxiliary to all the 
rest. 

Now let us regard another point, which indeed is the main 
point. We have seen that heaven and earth have been com- 
passed, and that all things in time and eternity, however in- 
congruous, irreconcilable, and antagonistic by nature, have 
been coerced by a kind of almighty main strength into a 
huge partnership in work, combining together the forces of 
all. Now what is the object of all this stupendous gathering 
up, and unifying of powers ? Is there all this labor and all 
this system, merely for the sake of labor and of system ? 
Have we before us a mere machine contrived with amazing 
ingenuity, like a huge puzzle, infinite in dimensions, and 
infinite in complication, to do no good, to work out no 
practical result? The Almighty does not waste either his 
wisdom or his power. We may be sure that there is an 
object proposed, fully equal in dignity and value to the 
expenditure that has been made for its accomplishment. 
What is that object? There may be, there doubtless are, 
various objects which, however, in the end must become con- 



296 The Old Theology. 

fluent, and coalesce into unity. These objects, as factors for 
the production of the grand result, must meet in the end as 
peers. What is that grand result? Can we by searching 
find out the Almighty? Not by searching. But what he 
has revealed, we know. He has disclosed to us a part of his 
secret. One of the factors in the sum total of his infinite 
purpose, is the good of them that love him. All things 
work, and all things work together ; and whatever other ends 
may be accomplished, one thing is certain ; and that is, that, 
*' according to the purpose of him who worketh all things 
after the counsel of his own will" (Eph. i. 11), "all things 
work together for good to them that love God." Other ends 
wholly inconceivable by us, may simultaneously be brought 
about ; but in the sublime culmination we know that this end 
is part of the peerage of God's eternal purpose. 

All things work together for good to them that love God. 
The blazing glory of the promise blinds us by its excess of 
light. In the darkness of our minds, we cannot comprehend 
it. Then let us apprehend. Let us lay hold on it and call 
it ours ; for it is ours. Brethren, derive from it consolation, 
comfort, joy, gladness, delight, exultation, as much as you 
can ! There is no room to receive it ; our cup runneth over ! 
Oh, that we might have expansion of soul to take in more 
of it ! But this we know, that the more we appreciate it, the 
more we shall glorify him who has vouchsafed such glory to 
us. Be not afraid of giving too wide a construction to the 
promise of God. It is impossible that our conceptions should 
outrun his goodness and his greatness. The joint heirs with 
Christ need set no limits to their domain ; for, in so doing, 
they set limits to his; nor is there any doubt of their owner- 
ship ; for their right is granted by the Almighty, and their 
title-deed is sealed with the blood of the everlasting covenant. 
Christ himself is ours ; and if Christ is ours, are not all 
things ours ? and if all things are ours, must they not work, 



God's Eteenal Purpose. 297 

so far as they work at all, for our good ? Nothing is idle ; 
everything works; does anything work evil to God's elect? 
If not, then everything works for good. All things work 
together. Do they work harm to Christ and his people? 
If not, then all things work together for their good. The 
saints are hid with Christ in God. Do all things work to- 
gether for their injury ? If not, then all things work together 
for their good. 

After all, it is incomprehensible. So let it be. But I 
pray you, measure not the Infinite One by finite standards ; 
away with misgivings, cast off unbelief, and take the Al- 
mighty at his word. But is it not irrational to receive as 
truth that which seems to be impossible? We receive a 
thousand such things ; but if this were the only one, it is far 
more irrational to doubt the revelation of God. Must you 
be let into all the secrets of infinite wisdom before you con- 
fide in the divine veracity ? In other words, will you not 
believe God, until you yourself become God ? Unbelief is 
the sin of the race. Infidelity to some degree will cling to 
the hearts, even of the people of God. Shall we never learn 
to believe that God is sincere ? Shall we never realize that 
his promises are far richer in reality than our utmost con- 
ceptions can make them ? Shall we never cease to fear that 
God, when put to the test, will fall short of what our imagina- 
tions, led on by his word, have made him ? " All things 
work together for good to them that love God." Enlarged 
be our capacities, that we may be able to receive the truth, 
in all its length, and breadth, and depth, and fullness, and 
richness, and power! 

We see, now, how the apostle could say, " We glory in 
tribulations." He knew that afflictions, as much as anything 
else, are ministers of God's mercy, and that they are working, 
together with all other things, for our good. Does he not ex- 
press this sentiment when he says, in language already quoted, 



298 The Old Theology. 

" For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh 
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory " ? 
Are you afflicted? "No chastening for the present seemeth 
to be joyous, but grievous ; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth 
the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them which are exer- 
cised thereby." In the hour of your calamity remember that 
anything in the history of your life, or in the experience of 
your soul, that can be called by the name of trouble, or trial, 
or sorrow, or distress, or pain, is part and parcel of the great 
system devised by Infinite Wisdom to work for your good. If 
your friends die, or forsake you, or turn against you, or if you 
die or live, if you stand or if you fall, if you prosper or if you 
fail, no matter what occurs to you and becomes part of your 
history, that very thing is also a part of the history of the 
universe, and is interwoven with the illimitable and eternal 
tissue of all things, which work together for your good, and 
for the good of all the millions that love God. No event of 
your life, good or bad, great or small, could be omitted and 
leave God's glorious plans complete. A great affliction is 
upon you. Would you, if you could, change or annihilate 
this part of your history ? Such a deed would spoil all the 
scheme which God's everlasting love has planned and set in 
operation for your good and for the good of them that love 
him. If a single pang that you suffer were left out, there 
W'ould be a screw loose in the whole of God's vast system of 
mercy. He knows that just so many trials and troubles, just 
so many pangs of pain and sorrow, are necessary. He will 
not send one more than is needful ; no, not one. Aye, if one 
were left out, all the proportions of things would be altered, 
God's plan would be frustrated, and the end would be dis- 
order and ruin. God knows how to keep his universe in 
balance, and will not allow it to be jarred even so little as by 
the undue falling of a hair. "Are not the very hairs of 
your head all numbered"? Why this infinite particu- 



GtOd's Eternal Purpose. 299 

larity about the most insignificant things, unless all things 
work together? So, if the most awful calamity that ever 
crushed the heart of man should befall you, let this be 
your feeling: I would not have it otherwise. God's will be 
done, and not mine. If mine were done, though it might 
seem best for the present, the future might be frightful over- 
throw ; but, if God's will be done, all things will be sure to 
work together for good to them that love him. Take not 
from me the afflictions which God would have me bear. I 
cannot spare a single pang. If one of them were removed, 
God's everlasting purpose of mercy and love toward me and 
to all that love him, would be defeated. No ! let me have 
my sorrows, they are my treasures ; give me all my share. I 
" glory in tribulations." 

It is easy to see how bereavement, or any other affliction 
that merely distresses our feelings, may be for our own good 
at least. Most of us have experienced the softening and sub- 
duing influences of adversity, in some of its many shapes. We 
know how it humbles, how it weans from the w^orld, how it 
stifles our carnal affections, and quickens our spiritual appe- 
tites. But can we go so far as to say that temptation and 
sin are among the " all things " that w^ork together for good ? 
Temptation resisted is an enemy overcome ; and is there no 
glory in triumph ? He who resists sin fights the battles of 
the Lord; is there no reward for valor? no laurel for the 
victor ? Yea, blessed is he that overcometh ! The voice of 
the glorified Jesus comes to us from across the sea, and from 
over the centuries, which said on Patmos, " To him that 
overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in 
the midst of the Paradise of God." " He that overcometh 
shall not be hurt of the second death." " And I will give 
him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, 
which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." Tlie 
reward of overcoming is such as no man can know. Its 



300 The Old Theology. 

glory caunot be communicated or told. The secret is with 
them that overcome to the end. This is the sublime secret 
of eternity. Oh, they that hold the white stone with the 
new name written on it, — they know ! 

Yes, and this, at least, we may know, that temptations 
overcome, work together, with all other things, for good. It 
was by triumph over temptation that our Saviour ascended 
to his heavenly throne, and by the same triumph we shall be 
led to the same exaltation. " To him that overcometh will I 
grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, 
and am set down with my Father in his throne." 

We can readily see how temptation may be included 
among the things that work for good. Can we go still 
farther and say that sin itself may work for good ? If there 
were no evil, there could be no temptation. We have seen 
that temptation is the occasion of good; now if evil is the 
occasion of temptation, then with only one remove back of 
the result, evil is the occasion of good. Nor need it surprise 
us. No matter how refractory sin may be, God Almighty 
has power enough to harness it, and make it work, and work 
to purpose, and to good purpose. Nor are we without Scrip- 
tural instruction on this point. " Surely," says the Psalmist, 
" surely the wrath of man shall praise thee ; the remainder 
of wrath shalt thou restrain." Sin is not intended to praise 
God, but God overrules it to the opposite of its intention; 
and with the remainder of sin out of which praise is not 
directly brought, God girds himself to the strengthening of 
his mighty arm for the overthrow of them that hate him, 
and thus at last there is glory. It is said of Pharoah : "For 
this cause have I raised thee up; for to show in thee my 
power, and that my name may be declared throughout all 
the earth." The iniquity of the merciless king was so 
wrested by almighty power from the purpose for which 
Satan would have used it, that it became part of the sys- 



God's Eternal Purpose. 301 

tern by which all things work together for good. No doubt 
the Evil One, when he first seduced our parents to sin, 
thought that he had thwarted the purpose of God, and that 
he would soon succeed in subverting his kingdom. How 
little he thought that in the introduction of sin, he was pre- 
paring the way for a Saviour, and that what he intended for 
the dishonor of God would bring about, in the plan of salva- 
tion, the most magnificent exhibition of God's honor, and the 
most excellent majesty that the universe ever beheld! Until 
sin entered into the world, the universe never knew what a 
God God is ; the inner glories of Godhead were not unfolded, 
the depth of his love and the power of his might were undis- 
played. All knew that he could create millions of splendid 
worlds, and people them with glorious intelligences ; but they 
did not know, that even Omnipotence, tied as it is to infinite 
justice, could rescue a damned world. Satan has discovered, 
to his chagrin, that what he intended as an interruption and 
frustration of God's goodness was one of the very things that 
God had determined beforehand should work together with 
everything else for good to them that love him. 

It is indeed astounding that God can and does bring good 
out of evil ; still when the thought is expressed in general 
terms, and when such plain examples of it are before our 
eyes, it is easy to acquiesce in it. But suppose some believer 
should ask : " If I have committed sin, can that be for my 
good?" The question is startling, and the answer may be 
more so. Whatever God can do in general he can do in 
particular. If he can bring good out of evil, taking it in its 
entirety, he can bring good out of evil, taking it by piece- 
meal. Not that there is anything right in what is wrong, 
not that, so far as we are concerned, there is anything good in 
that which is bad, not that sin is the cause of blessing, but 
that it certainly may be the occasion of it. Not that we 
should continue in sin that grace may abound, but that 

A2 



302 The Old Theology. 

where sin does abouud grace does much more abound. There 
is nothing that can be construed into a license to sin, nor do 
they who love God desire any such license, nor would they 
avail themselves of it, if it existed ; nor do they even desire 
an excuse for sin ; it is sweeter far to confess all, and to con- 
fess too that sin admits of no excuse. Yet if there were no 
sin, there could be no forgiveness ; if there were nothing to 
be saved from, there could be no salvation. Did sin occasion 
the atonement? Then my sin was part of that occasion. O 
Lord Jesus, did my sin bring salvation down ? Did my sin 
pierce thy side ? Then surely thou hast died for me ! Then 
let me live and die for thee ! 

We are not the first who have experienced these emotions ; 
and among them the Scriptures furnish some striking exam- 
ples. Who was it that wrote, as it were, with tears of blood, 
the Fifty-first Psalm ? But for the awful crime of David, 
almost unparalleled for meanness and baseness, that lowest 
depth of human penitence would not have been reached, nor 
that amazing forgiveness ever attained ; nor would the saints, 
till the end of time, have found those inspired expressions in 
which to pour out the agony of their own contrition. Who 
was it among the apostles who w^as foremost, and whose 
preaching, so far as we learn from the record, was attended 
with the most power ? The very one who basely denied his 
Lord, and perjured his soul! Who was afterwards raised up 
by the Holy Ghost to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, and 
to become the author of a large part of the New Testament, 
and the great formulator of the Christian system ? None other 
than Saul of Tarsus, whose breath was full of slaughter. 
Doubtless, these men acquired, in their days of guilt, an ex- 
perience which, in after life, greatly liumbled their souls, 
mellowed their hearts, enriched their knowledge, and inflamed 
their zeal. If the law was their school-master, to bring them 
to Christ, doubtless their violations of that law brought them 



Gob's Eternal Purpose. 303 

to a richer experience of grace than would otherwise have 
been possible. Perhaps nothing but a remembrance of for- 
given sin, such as none but Peter could have, would have 
emboldened any one to face the Jews as he did, and where 
he did, and charge them with the murder of the Lord of life. 
Had it not been for his memorable sin, perhaps no other 
recollection would have stung and quickened him to such 
discharge of duty, and consequently the three thousand souls 
converted under his unflinching testimony would not now 
shine as gems in his crown of rejoicing. Doubtless the very 
sin for which he wept so bitterly has been made, by a kind 
of spiritual reaction, to work for the actual promotion of his 
own happiness. How great a God is our God ! If Saul had 
not been a persecutor, Paul would not have been the hero of 
heroes, whose record is unapjH'oached in the history of man- 
kind. The Lord allowed Satan to dash him down, that he, 
the Lord, might lift him up. 

Our doctrine is most distinctly taught by our Saviour 
himself. On one occasion, he said, "To whom little is for- 
given, the same loveth little " ; and when Simon, in answer 
to a question from him, said that he to whom most was for- 
given would love most, the Lord replied, "Thou hast rightly 
judged." Now, to love God most is the highest distinction 
and delight that any created being can enjoy. So if I am 
the chief of sinners, thank God that when my sin is all for- 
given, I may be the chief of lovers ! If I exceed all others 
in guilt, it may be that in the eternal anthems of heaven 
there will be one voice ringing clear and loud above all the 
rest, and that voice may be mine! O my God, if I have 
been the chief of sinners, let me be the loudest in my accla- 
mations of praise ! Nor is there any temptation to sin for the 
gentle saint, whose life from the beginning has been one of 
exceptional purity. Such an one is deaf to all invitations to 
sin ; sin is his soul's abhorrence, and he would rather be the 



304 The Old Theology 

least, the very least in the kingdom of heaven, than to win 
distinction at the expense of his heart's repose, and of his 
Lord's displeasure. As for the wicked who, instructed by 
the Lord, becomes more wicked thereby, he illustrates in 
himself that the savor of life unto life with some is a savor 
of death unto death with him. But that saint whose former 
days were days of enormous guilt, whose conscience stings 
him with the remembrance of capital crimes against the Lord 
of glory, may ^Yell thank God, and take courage ! Well may 
he say, " Good Lord, I hate the sin, I loathe myself, but I 
magnify the grace that makes the wrath of man to praise 
thee, and all things to work together for good to them that 
love thee ! Bless the Lord,. O my soul ! Bless the Lord, all 
ye his saints! All ye that love the Lord, bless his holy 
name ! " 

Is it objected to the doctrine taught, that it promises 
higher rewards to those who have sinned, and been forgiven, 
than to those who never sinned ? If the doctrine is Scrip- 
tural, it matters not what the objections to it may be. A 
magnificent illustration of the doctrine is found in those pas- 
sages of Scripture, not a few, which teach that the saints out- 
rank the angels.^ Every one of the saints has been a sin- 
ner; not one of the angels now in heaven has ever sinned. 
Those sinners, once lost, but now saved, will hold higher 
seats in bliss and glory than those sinless ones who were 
never lost, and therefore never saved. The saints are the 
one ; the angels, the ninety and nine. But for sin there 
would have been no Christ ; and none would have been joint- 
heirs with Christ, and none would have been one with Christ. 

1 "Know ye not that we shall judge the angels," 1 Cor. vi. 2., is 
to our purpose, but is not relied on, because the interpretation which 
I would give it, and which I think is the proper one, has been dis- 
puted by wise and learned men. though it is sustained by others as 
wise and as learned. We can easily afford to dispense with it as a 
proof-text. 



GoD^s Eteenal Puepose. 305 

All this is true of the saints once sinners, but not of the 
angels. The glory of the Lord is in the rescue. The Lord 
is a man of war. The saints are his trophies ; the angels are 
not. Nor need we be surprised. Sin is the weapon with 
which Satan would destroy us. Is it surprising that God 
should wrench it out of his hand, and increase his damnation 
with it, and bring good out of it for them for whom Christ 
died? As he has undertaken our rescue, would it not be far 
more surprising if he should not do this very thing? We 
rejoice to know that there is power enough in heaven to cap- 
ture the artillery of hell, and turn it against the Evil One, 
and promote with it the very cause which he used it to de- 
stroy. Does any one take encouragement to sin from this? 
He may insult Jehovah, if he will. The Scriptures never teach 
that it is right to do evil that good may come ; but the doc- 
trine of the whole book is, that God is glorified in salvation. 
But for sin there would have been no salvation; and thus 
God brings highest glory from lowest depths. 

Listructive and thrilling as are the truths we have been 
considering, we have not exhausted the text, though, indeed, 
it has exhausted us. But we cannot let go the theme till we 
speak of God's wisdom. What infinite wisdom is that which 
contrived and arranged beforehand, from eternity, that 
everything, great and small, should so work with every other 
thing, that from everlasting to everlasting there should be 
one continuous frame-work, jointed and fitted together in per- 
fection. We cannot but speak, too, of God's power; for 
what almightiness, such as we can form no conception of, 
would be required to coerce all things, however antagonistic, 
mind and matter, joy and sorrow, sin and holiness, to work 
together ! Above all must we pause to adore, when we think 
of God's goodness. His wisdom and power have devised and 
set in operation this stupendous system, that it may expend 
its inconceivable and myriad energies in working good for 

2A2 



306 The Old Theology. 

them that love him. What a wonderful reward for but a 
reasonable service ! 

If there be a controlling attribute in the nature of God, it 
would seem that that attribute is love. At any rate, so long 
as this is part of his perfection, so long must all the powers 
of his universe be brought to bear upon his cherished scheme, 
his grand purpose, the good of them that love him. As this 
has been his purpose from everlasting, so it must be to ever- 
lasting ; for with him is no variableness, neither shadow of 
turning. So sure, then, my brethren, as you are that your 
hearts are warm towards God, just so sure you may be that 
all things work together for your good. His word, and the 
reason he has given you, enlightened by that word, unite in 
teaching this lesson. It is your privilege to be reminded of 
it by everything that comes within the scope of your percep- 
tions. As you read the word of God, remember that every 
truth on the sacred page is revealed for your good. As you 
walk at midday, remember that the sun shines for your good. 
If you lift your eyes to the starry dome that gladdens night, 
remember that not a world rolls through space but is on a 
mission of love ; its errand, as it blazes and whirls through its 
orbit, being to work with all other worlds, and all other 
things, for your good. Not an atom of matter exists, but 
exists for your good. The invisible animalcule lives for a 
purpose — your good. The ocean rolls, and ebbs, and flows, 
for your good. The storm, the calm, the wind, the zephyr, 
are for your good. The terrific powers of the earthquake 
and of the volcano, are for your good. The fish of the sea, 
the fowls of the air, the beasts of the field, have their being 
for your good. The flowers of the vale wear their tints, the 
trees of the forest their leafy honors, for your good. The 
stalactite gleams in the cavern, the mountain top greets the 
dawn, for your good. All, all that you see, and hear, and 
feel, and know, all that there is of nature, is for your good. 



God's Eternal Purpose. 307 

So, also, the providential dispensations that hourly, and every 
moment, occur, are for your good. Joy, sorrow, prosperity, 
adversity, disease, pain, death, all work together for your 
good. Commercial disasters, national calamities, are for 
your good. Even war, with its carnage, and its horror, and 
its awful guilt, is not out of reach of the power that makes 
all things work together for good. Temptation is for your 
good. The powers of darkness are for your good. The 
devil and his angels expend their strength in working for 
your good ; God knows how to put them in harness. Your 
own sins, which your souls abhor, and the least one of which 
involves guilt enough to ruin you forever, are so reversed in 
their operation by the almightiness and mercy of God, that 
even they work for your good. Not a glorified spirit, nor a 
created intelligence, but lives for your good. Every energy, 
conceivable or inconceivable, that ever did or ever will 
exist, is united with every other energy, in working out one 
grand result — your good. Everything that God has ever 
done, or ever will do, must bear actually and practically on 
your happiness. We sink under the pressure of the thought; 
it overwhelms us ; it is as if the great mountain, the mountain 
of his holiness, had been heaped upon us ; we are in the dust ; 
we fall at his feet as dead. But we shall rise. He will lay 
his right hand upon us, saying, " Fear not : I am the first 
and the last ; I am he that liveth and was dead ; and behold, 
I am alive forevermore. Amen ; and have the keys of hell 
and of death." Revived by his Avords, invigorated for 
eternal life by his touch, we shall rise, with capacity to 
realize forever that "All things work together for 

GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD." 



SERMON XVIII. 

THE GREAT PURCHASE. 
"Ye are bought with a price."— 1 Corlnthians vi. 20. 

THE earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world 
and they that dwell therein." Thus said David three 
thousand years ago; and ten centuries and more afterwards 
the Apostle Paul, in writing the very epistle from which our 
text is taken, quotes the expression twice : " The earth is the 
Lord's, and the fullness thereof." The same is true of the sun 
and moon, and of all the planets and stars, and of all their in- 
habitants. One ever-living, self-existent, omnipotent, omnis- 
cient, omnipresent God, is the Lord Proprietor of them all. 
Creatorship necessitates proprietorship — proprietorship abso- 
lute; propiietorship unqualified and unqualifiable forever. 
If the sea is his because he made it, so we are his because he 
made us. His ownership of the loftiest angel and of all the 
angels, and of all glorious intelligences, and spiritual as well 
as corporeal beings, including ourselves, is as real, and as 
entire, and as absolute, as his ownership of the merest insect 
or of the merest atom. If a man with his own means builds 
two houses, one large and costly, and the other small and 
cheap, his ownership of the large house is just as complete as 
that of the small one. So all the products of God's creation, 
whether matter or spirit or compound, are on an exact level 
with all others, so far as the idea of property is involved. 
God brouofht us out of nothing, he can return us to nothing- 
ness at his will ; there is none to dispute his title ; and we 
belong to him ; we are his, absolutely and forever. 
308 



The Great Purchase. 309 

Yetj the text says that we are "bought," and distinctly 
implies that God is the buyer. This cannot be literally true, 
for we are his already. One cannot buy that which is his 
own. The very idea of buying involves the idea of transfer 
of ownership. This is impossible in the present case, because 
there is no party /rom whom the transfer could proceed; for 
one cannot transfer to himself Evidently the text is not 
true in any literal sense ; yet it is a part of the word of God, 
and therefore must be true — precisely true in some sense ; and 
from this we learn with certainty that it is a figure of speech. 
But all figures are intended to illustrate facts, otherwise they 
would not be figures; they would be simply meaningless 
fancies. But why are figures used? Why is not the fact 
stated literally and described exactly as it is? Because our 
minds are so constituted that a figure of speech often conveys 
a thought with more clearness, and with more force, than 
anv literal statement could do. This fio-ure is used in this 
case because it conveys the idea intended to be conveyed, 
better than it could be done in any other way. 

But what is the fact, or what are the facts which this 
figure is intended to illustrate? We certainly learn this at 
least, that there is a sense in which we are "bought," and 
that therefore we belong to God now in a manner in which 
we once did not; we are bound to him by a new tie ; hence 
we are not only his, but doubly his ; we were always his by 
creation, we are now his by purchase. 

The object of the text is to illustrate the plan of salvation 
under the figure of a commercial transaction. The analysis 
of any case of bargain and sale will therefore be virtually an 
analysis of the subject. In every transaction of this kind, 
certain elements are necessarily involved. There must be — 

1. A buyer. 2. A thing bought and sold. 3. A seller. 
4. A price paid. 5. A motive on the part of the buyer. 
6. A motive on the part of the seller. 7. And from these 



310 The Old Theology. 

facts two inquiries naturally arise: 1. Was it a good bargain 
to the buyer? 2. Was it a good bargain to the seller? 

In considering these points with regard to their appli- 
cation to the subject matter which was in the apostle's mind 
when he wrote these words, " Ye are bought with a price," 
we shall find one of the most luminous exhibitions of the 
plan of salvation to be found anywhere in the Sacred 
Scriptures. 

I. Let us inquire, in the first place, who is the purchaser? 
Evidently God is represented as being the purchaser. After 
the purchase is made, and the title transferred, we are said 
to be both body and spirit Ood^s} It is needless to dwell on 
this point, further than to say that as we are now his by 
purchase, there is a new relation between us, which, like all 
other relations, must give rise to obligations of its own. 

II. Passing to the second point, let us ask, what is the 
thing exchanged ? On this point there ought to be no doubt. 
When we come to consider the price that was paid, we shall 
find that it was enormous. A disbursement so immense 
would not be made without a most definite understanding as 
to that which was to be received in return for the outlay. A 
draft that would seem to reach to the very bottom of the 
treasury would not be allowed for any dubious or uncertain 
equivalent. Persons seem to have been purchased. Who 
are these persons ? The apostle says, ye are bought. Those 
whom he addressed were those who were bought. But whom 
did he address ? To use his own words, he addressed " them 
that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with 
all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ 

^The Eevised Version gives the text as follows: "Ye were 
bought with a price ; glorify Grod therefore in your body," omitting 
the words, "and in your spirit, which are God's." I use the text as 
I find it in the Common Version ; for wliether the words omitted by 
the revisers are part of the true text or not, the thought which they 
express is abundantly sustained by Scripture. 



The Great Purchase. 311 

our Lord " (ch. I, v. 1). Elsewhere he calls them " breth- 
ren " ; and in the chapter from which the text is taken, he 
describes them as having been once unrighteous, but now 
washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord 
Jesus, and by the Spirit of our Lord (v. 11). Evidently the 
apostle addresses God's elect — not only those in Corinth, but 
all those in every place throughout the world in all time who 
can properly be called the people of God ; and it is equally 
plain that he addresses none but these. If he had been 
addressing the whole world, he would not have used epithets 
of limitation ; he would not have described his audience as 
" called to be saints," and as " brethren," and as those who 
are "washed," "sanctified," and "justified." The expression 
is a very definite one, and can mean neither more nor less 
than it says : " Ye are bought with a price." The expression 
of one thing is the exclusion of others. The word "ye" 
describes those vvho are meant, and all who are meant. It is 
none other than God's elect of whom it is said that they are 
bought with a price. These constitute the commodity which 
is the subject of the present transaction ; and God, as already 
seen, is the buyer. 

Now a wise buyer always selects that which he buys, and 
selects it judiciously. In fact any kind of a buyer, even the 
most thoughtless, would exercise some selection and some 
judgment in the disbursement of his funds. None but an 
idiot would rush into market with his hands full of money, 
shouting, " I want to buy something," and finally closing a 
bargain without knowing, thinking, or caring what he had 
bargained for, either as to quantity, quality, or kind. Such a 
transaction as bargain and sale always implies a certain 
amount of thought and of forethought ; a certain deliberate- 
ness of purpose ; a certain amount of discrimination and judg- 
ment, and a certain definiteness of intention — especially is 
this the case when the price to be paid is large. No man 



312 The Old Theology. 

does such a thing blindly or carelessly ; nor is it matter of 
mere accident what he buys, or what he pays for it ; of course 
all is calculated, and calculated coolly and beforehand. And 
the more wise the buyer is the more certain we may be that 
he " knows what he is about," and that his intentions were 
well formed and his calculations exactly made. In the 
present instance the buyer is governed by infinite wisdom 
and infinite knowledge, and is One also who, having eternity 
to operate in, has no occasion to be in a hurry or to act 
rashly. Of course, his purpose in this transaction was well 
defined and marked by infinite exactness. We must remem- 
ber that all his conceptions, of whatever kind, are equal, if 
possible superior, in precision to our conceptions in purest 
mathematics. Even moral truth to him is as pure mathe- 
matics to us. So of course he knew exactly what he intended 
to buy. All that has been said is corroborated by what is 
known among us as the common law, which is said to be 
the perfection of reason. By the common law, a sale cannot 
take place without involving two points, to wit : 1. There must 
be a mutual and clear understanding as to the price to be 
paid. 2. There must be a mutual and clear understanding as 
to the exact equivalent that is to be rendered in consider- 
ation of that price. There is but one law for vendor and 
vendee alike; and anything that claims to be a sale, and 
which is defective in either point, is no sale ; and if claim of 
sale were pressed despite such defect, it would raise suspicion 
of fraud. There is no fraud in heaven. The divine record 
declares that there was a sale ; and in heaven nothing pre- 
tends to be a sale which is not a sale.^ When we were 
bought with a price, the deed was marked by all the features 

lit must be remembered that this is a figure of speech. Using 
literal terms, we should say, that there was a genuine transaction 
represented to us as a sale. As this is an inspired figure, it is the 
best figure, and conveys the idea to our minds better than it could 
have been done in any other way. 



The Great Purchase. 313 

which make such a transaction legitimate and proper. Our 
Heavenly Father then knew exactly what he intended to 
purchase ; and I may add that he knew also when the bar- 
gain was closed exactly what he did purchase, and he knew 
that that which he did corresponded to what he intended to 
do. A prudent purchaser always sees that he gets what he 
pays for. It is the custom of merchants to compare the goods 
delivered with the invoice, and to check off each article sepa- 
rately, until the list is exhausted. AVe may be sure that in 
point of prudence, and exact correctness of dealing, God is 
not excelled by any of his creatures, and when those whom 
he has "bought with a price" are checked off, the work will 
be rightly done ; for the checking off in this case is nothing 
more, rather let me say nothing less, than an operation of the 
divine mind ; and the objects of the purchase are ever before 
the divine mind. 

Men may take all pains to attain to exact correctness, and 
after all be mistaken. But such exact correctness in this 
case is just as certain as that God is perfect and infinite. We 
know that he counts the hairs of our heads. It is not to be 
supposed that he would put himself in the strange attitude of 
counting the hairs and not counting the heads. Would 
the divine attention be so occupied with the minute interests 
of a single hair that he would forget all the rest of the 
man? Would he guard wdth eternal vigilance the most 
insignificant part of the man and lose sight of the man him- 
self? Impossible and unthinkable. 

Furthermore : A human purchaser is not satisfied with 
merely counting the articles delivered, to see if the number is 
right, but will examine each one to see if it is the one selected 
by him, when the purchase was made. Thus if one has 
bought a hundred horses, it will not suffice when the animals 
are delivered to count them and see that there are a hundred. 
The most reckless buyer would not be satisfied with this. 

2B 



314 The Old Theology. 

He would Avish to make himself sure, not only that he had 
received the right number, but that he had received the right 
ones. We may be sure that he who bought us with a price 
knew not only how many of us he bought, but wJiieh of us. 
God's attention goes farther into details than ours. And he 
will examine each one all over, inside and out, with infinite 
scrutiny, counting every hair on him and every atom in his 
whole make up, physical and spiritual. 

And again : An honest buyer takes no more than he 
pays for. If he finds that by accident or otherwise, goods 
have been delivered to him which he did not select and did 
not pay for, he will be sure not to appropriate those articles : 
he W'ill publicly declare that they are none of his, and will 
return them to their rightful owner. We may be sure that 
God, in all his dealings, is infinitely just; and that he will 
take neither more nor less, by one iota or one atom, than the 
bargain calls for. 

Men are more or less careful in such transactions in pro- 
portion to the value of the commodities dealt in. If the 
commodities are coarse, common, and cheap, a very great 
exactness is not observed ; but if the commodities are very 
rare and precious, then the most scrupulous precision is ob- 
served. A few grains of corn might be missing from a hun- 
dred tons of corn, and the loss would not be noticed ; but if a 
diamond as large as the Kohinoor were lost, it would raise 
prodigious consternation. In this case it is immortal souls 
that are bought with a price — souls in the image of God — 
souls that are " partakers of the divine nature," and each one 
of them is of infinite value. If the world itself were a huge 
diamond, making all space resplendent with its flashes as it 
coursed over its orbit; and if its value were calculated by 
the rules of the jeweler, — it would be nothing, and less than 
nothing, to the value of one of those whom God bought with 
a price. 



The Great Purchase. 315 

We may be sure that there are no mistakes in this trans- 
actioD, and that the watchful eye of Omniscience has been 
fastened on it from eternity. 

III. We come now to the consideration of the third point. 
In every such transaction there must be a seller. A most 
natural inquisitiveness prompts us to ask, Who is the seller ? 
The laudable curiosity which makes the inquiry ought to be 
gratified ; though without a little thought, the question is a 
puzzling one. The seller is the Law — God's holy Law. We 
must here presume a figure of speech — ^the figure of personifi- 
cation ; a figure which speaks of things as if they were per- 
sons. Here it is the Law that is personified. There could 
have been no real person whose property we were, and who 
sold us to the glorious and eternal purchaser ; and if no real 
person, then there must have been a figurative person ; for in 
such a transaction as buying and selling, there must be two 
persons. A bargain requires two. God, we have already 
seen, is one of these persons. His Law, in a figure, is the 
other. 

But how came we to be in the possession of the Law ? By 
sin. We had not known sin but by the Law. When we 
transgressed it, we became amenable to its penalties. Being 
unable to satisfy its demands, it seized our persons as it were 
by writ of capiat. The borrower is servant to the lender ; 
the debtor is servant to the creditor. Our creditor is the 
divine Law. Its demands are infinite ; not only our estate, 
but our very j9erso?is, are confiscated by its power. Admit- 
ting the Law to be a person, which it is in figure, then we 
belong to that person. It has control of us ; it has possession 
of us ; we are in its power and at its mercy. It has both the 
right and the power to dispose of us according to its own 
behests. 

God is the purchaser; we are they who are bought with a 
price; and the Law is the seller, relinquishing its power over 



316 The Old Theology. 

us for a good and valuable consideration. When "sold 
under sin," we are conveyed, not by deed of gift, but by bill 
of sale. It is no part of God's plan that sinners shall be 
saved regardless of the claims of the divine Law. Those 
claims must be satisfied, and satisfied in full, with the pre- 
cision of the Infinite. God's Law is as eternal and un- 
changeable as he is. It never could have given us up 
without receiving an equivalent. " Nor would God be willing 
to defraud his own Law, by taking from it that which 
belongs to it, without a just compensation. God will not rob 
any ; much less will he rob his own eternal Law, which is 
holy, just, and good. Hence we see the necessity of a 
purchase, or of something in the nature of a purchase, in the 
salvation of sinners ; and hence, too, we see the beauty, and 
the appropriateness, and the force, and the amazing wisdom 
of the figure used by the apostle, when he says, "ye are 
bought with a price." 

IV. We come now to consider the fourth point ; that is, 
to consider ihQ price that was paid. What was the price? 
It was the blood of Jesus. We are everywhere represented 
in the New Testament as those who are redeemed; that is, 
as those who are bought, and bought haeh to a former owner, 
like persons captured by a foreign power and held for a 
ransom. The blood of Jesus was our ransom-money; hence 
he is called our Redeemer, because he gave himself for us. 
The words " ransomed " and " redeemed " are evidently used 
to mean the same thing. Our Lord himself uses these 
words, which are recorded by Matthew (xx. 28) : " The Son 
of man came to give his life a ransom for many." The 
evangelist Mark also records the same words (x. 28). The 
Apostle Peter (i. 1, 19) says that we are " redeemed " (that 
is, bought back) " with the precious blood of Christ," " as of 
a lamb without spot." And the Apostle Paul in the Epistle 
to the Ephesians (i. 7) uses these words : " In whom we have 



The Great Purchase. 317 

redemption by his blood " ; and in the Epistle to the Colos- 
sians (i. 14) the same apostle uses the very same words : " In 
whom we have redemption by his blood " ; and in writing to 
the Galatians, he says : " Christ hath redeemed us from the 
curse of the law" (iii. 13). And in the Book of Acts, we 
find this very striking expression : " The church of God, 
which he hath purchased with his own blood." And in the 
next chapter to that in which our text is found, the apostle 
repeats the very words of the text, saying again : " Ye are 
bought with a price " (1 Cor. vii. 23). And in the Book of 
Kevelation, the four living creatures and the four and 
twenty elders are represented as falling down before the 
Lamb, having harps and golden vials full of odors, and 
saying to the Lamb that sitteth on the throne : " Thou wast 
slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every 
kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation " (Rev. v. 9). 
But without relying wholly on proof-texts, of which I have 
selected a few, it is note-worthy that the whole drift and 
tenor of the New Testament represent us as being ransomed, 
redeemed, bought back ; and everywhere it is indicated, if 
not expressed, that the blood of Christ is the price that was 
paid. Nor is the figure of speech used in this morning's 
text — the figure of purchase and sale — a rare one, so seldom 
used that there is risk of misapplying it. On the contrary, 
so far is it from being rare, that it is used directly or in- 
directly times without number. Indeed, it is a favorite 
figure. Wherever Christ is spoken of as our Redeemer, 
wherever the word redeemed is used, or the word redemption, 
or the word ransom, the figure is referred to. 

So, then, in considering the text, " Ye are bought with a 
price," we have learned four important things : it is God who 
buys, it is we who are bought, it is the Law personified who 
sells, and the blood of Christ is the price that is paid. 

V. It is not improper for us now to inquire into the 

2B2 



318 The Old Theology. 

motives of the high contracting parties to this transaction. 
In the first place, what was the motive of the buyer ? The 
motives of all buyers are in general terms the same ; that is, 
they pay out a certain amount of purchase money, because 
they wish to possess a certain object which cannot be lawfully 
obtained in any other way. In the present instance, God 
desired his people to sustain a certain relation to him, which 
they could not sustain except by the transaction which the 
text illustrates. We could not be his in the sense of being 
his redeemed, unless he had redeemed us; and to do this it 
was needful that a price be paid. But what was the motive 
that lay back of this motive which this glorious Purchaser 
had in common with other purchasers? Forever blessed are 
the words recorded in the third chapter of John and the six- 
teenth verse, where the depths of the divine bosom are laid 
bare, and the secrets of eternity are revealed : " God so loved 
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
Here is the mainspring of God's action. We may be sure 
that whatever machinery is set in motion by such a power as 
this will be certain to work out the very results that were 
intended. The salvation of the redeemed has its fountain- 
head, if the figure may be so suddenly changed, in eternal 
and infinite benevolence. This being one of the attributes 
of God, is coupled of course with eternal and infinite wisdom ; 
and both are coupled with eternal and infinite power. In 
fact, all the attributes of God are coupled together ; for our 
God is a personal God, and one God. Of course the results 
are as certain as the existence of God. 

VI. Let us now ask w'hat was the motive of the seller? 
All sellers have the same motive. They sell for gain. That 
which they receive is more valuable to them than that which 
they give in exchange for it. The Law — represented in all 
this discussion as a person — ^the Law saw that its claims 



The Great Purchase. 319 

would be better satisfied by accepting the blood of Jesus, 
than by retaining the persons of transgressors. Among us 
always, if a man is incarcerated for debt, as was formerly done 
by law, it is better to take any payment rather than to retain 
him. But in the present case, the reason is stronger. The 
transgressors are finite, and the destruction of any number 
of them by the Law, would not be so great a tribute to the 
power, dignity, and majesty of the Law, as the yielding up 
to its claims of the infinite. The man Jesus was identified 
and unified in some mysterious and incomprehensible way, 
with the Second Person of the glorious Godhead, and this 
imparted to his blood an infinite dignity, and an infinite 
value. So it was to the interest of the Law, regarding it as 
a person, to accept the infinite in payment of the finite. 
There was profit in the transaction ; and this was the motive 
of the seller. 

VII. The inquiry now arises, whether it was a good bar- 
gain to both parties. We may be sure that it was. So far 
as the seller is concerned we have already seen that the ex- 
change was profitable, and that the amount of profit is to be 
measured by the difierence between the finite and infinite. So 
to the Law, the bargain was stupendously grand. We may 
be sure that the bargain was equally good on the other side ; 
for Infinite Wisdom as a buyer would not give any more for 
a thing than it is worth. In all legitimate commercial trans- 
actions both parties are benefited. It is to the interest of 
the seller to sell, and it is to the interest of the buyer to buy. 
Thus commerce enriches mutually those who engage in it. 
If it were not so, if exchange could be made to the benefit of 
one party, only at the expense of the other, commerce must 
cease or the world would be ruined. But this transaction, 
between Almighty God on the one hand, and his most holy 
Law on the other, which was the first commercial transaction 
of eternity, must be a model transaction, in which not only 



320 The Old Theology. 

both parties were benefited, but benefited equally. In this 
sublime deed of eternity there must have been an exact ad- 
justment of values, an absolute equipoise of advantage in the 
scales of infinite justice. Hence if the Law made a profit 
which is measured by the diflTerence between the finite and 
infinite, the profit on the other side must have been commen- 
surate with it. Thus did the plan of salvation transcendently 
promote the glory of God. Doubtless it looms up as one of 
the grandest events of eternity. When the world was created 
and God looked upon all the works that he had made and 
pronounced it good, the morning stars sang together, and all 
the sons of God shouted for joy ; but when the seventh seal 
was broken there was silence in heaven. Amazement struck 
the angels dumb. 

VI ri. It is natural and proper to ask, WTien did all these 
wonderful doings take place ? The beginning of the delivery 
of the commodity purchased and paid for in blood was at the 
death of Abel, whose sacrifice of the firstlings of his flock was 
typical of the price that was paid for his ransom. Every 
day since then, the delivery has continued, and it will con- 
tinue until the last one of those who were redeemed by the 
blood of Jesus has been delivered up to the Father. The 
delivery will not stop short of that point nor go beyond it. 

The price was paid 1800 years ago. The first installment 
was paid in Gethsemane, when the blood gushed from the 
pores like sweat. The next installment was paid when the 
crown of thorns pierced the Godlike temples. The next was 
paid when the nails forced their way through the hands and 
feet. The last installment was paid when the Roman spear 
gashed open the heart. Head, hands, feet, and heart were 
laid open — the whole body of the Lord wounded, and hung 
up between heaven and earth, that streams of salvation 
might flow more freely ; and he was " wounded for our trans- 
gressions, he was bruised for our iniquities : the chastisement 



The Great Purchase. 321 

of our peace was upon him ; and with his stripes we are 
healed." 

This was the fulfilling of the contract. But when was the 
contract made? Of course the whole figure is intended to 
represent certain operations of the divine mind ; for no such 
deed as that spoken of could have taken place outside of him. 
God is eternal; God is unchangeable. The salvation of the 
redeemed — growing out of the exercise of his attributes — 
must have both its origin and its completion in the depths of 
the divine nature. The bargain by which the redeemed were 
bought and paid for, was made in eternity. So reason would 
teach ; but what says the Scripture ? The Apostle Peter says, 
" Ye were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a 
lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was 
foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was mani- 
fest in these last times for you." 1 Peter i. 19. In the Book 
of Bevel ati on, too, we are told of " the Lamb that was slain 
from the foundation of the world." Of course it is not meant 
that the actual slaying was before the foundation of the 
world, but merely that then was the arrangement made, 
which culminated in the slaying. The price to be paid was 
thus agreed upon in eternity ; and of course that which was 
to be given in exchange for this price was also agreed on in 
eternity. The understanding was not all on one side, but 
was perfect on both sides. What was to be paid, and what 
was to be given as equivalent, were both settled questions 
long ago. As to this last point, it is represented under the 
figure of having been recorded in. a book. The very names 
of those who are bought and paid for to the uttermost far- 
thing are written in the Lamb's book of life ; and every one 
of those whose names are so written, and whom the record 
shows to have been bargained for and sold, will be sure to be 
delivered up into the hands of the Father. We are also dis- 
tinctly informed that " whosoever was not found written in the 



322 The Old Theology. 

book of life was cast into the lake of fire " ; and from this 
we learn that some names are written in that book and some 
are not. Rev. xx. 15. Thus the archives of eternity will 
forever witness the terms of the contract, by virtue of which 
God's chosen ones are redeemed. On one side of that book 
is written the price that was paid, even the precious blood of 
Christ ; and on the other side, to make an exact balance of 
the account, are written the names of those who were " chosen 
in him before the foundation of the world," Eph. i. 4 ; and 
this last passage teaches us three things : 

1. That we were chosen. 

2. That we were chosen iti him, that is, with reference to 
him ; that is, that the thing bought and the price paid for it 
"were compared with each other ; and 

3. That the choice was made and the arrano-ement ao^reed 
on before the foundation of the world. What else can the 
text mean? Parallel with this is the passage in 2 Thess. 
ii. 13, where the inspired apostle says, " We are bound to give 
thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, 
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to sal- 
vation." Here again the "choice " is mentioned, and also the 
date of it, " from the beginning " ; then, too, was the whole 
transaction, including a complete catalogue of the names 
committed to the record in the book of life. 

REFLECTIONS. 

From all that has been said there arise various profitable 
reflections : 

1. We learn the value that God sets upon human souls, 
by the price that he paid for them. We underrate our own 
importance. We must be worth more than we suppose 
ourselves to be, other wis3 we should not have been the 
subjects of that stupendous negotiation, in which such a huge 
draft was made on the treasury of the Almighty. If God 



The Great Purchase. 323 

so values us, then how ought we to value ourselves and each 
other ? 

2. Now that we have been bought and paid for at such 
a price, the Purchaser will be sure to take care of us ; nor 
will he let any pluck us out of his hand. A man who 
purchases an article of immense value is sure to put it in a 
safe place, and will exhaust all ingenuity in precaution 
against robbery or loss. And the anxiety and energy wdth 
which we secure our goods is always in proportion to their 
value. Suppose a man has so set his heart on the possession 
of a certain thing that he is willing to pay his son's life- 
blood for it, and actually bargains for it at that rate, and 
actually pays the stipulated price. He sees the blood gush 
from the vitals ; he sees it burst from the pores ; he sees it 
ooze from nail prints ; he sees it trickle from temples down 
the face in which he recoguizes his own features and his own 
likeness in the midst of the agony : he hears the dying cry, 
and recognizes, alas too well, the voice; he sees the heart 
send out its final flood, and hears the last gurgle as the 
fountain is exhausted ; and then, taking the cold, bloodless 
clay, he lays it in the tomb and receives in exchange that 
which he paid for at this fearful price. Think you he could 
ever lose it? Would he not guard it with ceaseless vigilance 
day aud night ? With what fierce jealousy would he watch 
it — with what desperation would he defend it ! Would he 
not inclose it in the strongest chest with walls, and ribs, and 
bolts, and bars, of steel and adamant and asbestos, that 
would defy the burglary of the pit and also its flames ? 

God's feelino-s are as much strono-er than ours as he is 
greater than we are. The subjects of his eternal purchase, 
paid for with the blood of his Son, his beloved Son in whom 
he was well pleased, he will not suffer to be lost. God can 
find no place outside himself safe enough to make us secure, 
and so he has taken us into himself. Says an apostle, " Your 



324 The Old Theology. 

life is hid with Christ in God " (Col. iii. 3). God has hidden 
us — hidden us in himself. He has opened his own bosom 
and received us in, and there with Christ we are shut up, 
and the everlasting arms of Omnipotence are locked around 
us, while the blazing intelligence of Godhead to eternity 
watches over us, prompted by amazing, fathomless, infinite 
love ! No, not one of them will be lost. 

3. We learn also something of our wealth, and of the 
treasures that are in store for us. " He that spared not his 
own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not 
with him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. viii. 32). In 
another place the apostle says : "All things are yours " 
(2 Cor. iii. 21). And in still another place he says : "All 
things work together for good to them that love God, who 
are the called according to his purpose " (Rom. viii. 28). 
Would it be possible to exaggerate the intensity of these 
expressions, or to make them mean more than they do mean ? 

4. We learn also the rank which we shall hold in heaven. 
The angels were not bought; we are. Hence we outrank 
them and shall sit on thrones to judge them. 

5. In striking contrast with this view of our exaltation 
we are brought to a wonderful sense of our helplessness. If 
we were bought, then in that event at least we were mere 
merchandise. We were transferred like chattels. We had 
nothing to do with it ; nor could we have had, for this reason, 
if for no other, that it was done in eternity. Nor yet could 
it have been done on the ground of any good foreseen in us, 
for that could not have been foreseen which does not exist. 

6. If a purchase was made, it was necessary that it should 
have been made. Nothing is ever paid out for that which 
can be had gratis ; and especially such a price as this would 
not have been paid out for nothing. And if such negotiation 
was necessary, then God only could have made it, for he 
only could pay the price. So we see that salvation is all of 



The Great Puechase. 325 

grace. Christ, too, must have been something more than 
man. Nothing short of indwelling divinity would have so 
enriched his blood as to make it adequate to satisfy the 
demands of infinite, eternal and inexorable Law. So agrain 
we see that salvation is of the Lord. 

A FALSE INFERENCE. 

Many persons have followed all this argument down to 
the last of these corollaries, and then, alas, have drawn a 
false conclusioD. They say : " If all this be so ; if indeed we 
were bought in eternity ; if the price has been paid and the 
holy Law of God has relinquished all its claims upon us ; and 
if God has accepted us as his own and has pledged all his 
attributes for our eternal safety, — then we need have no 
anxiety, and there is nothing left for us to do." It is true 
that we need have no anxiety, but it is not true that we have 
no duty. " Why," says human nature, " why should we 
feel any solicitude for ourselves or for others ? Is not the 
affair settled? Was not each particular case settled before 
the foundation of the world ? If so, there is nothing for us 
to do ; and whatever we do, the result will be the same." 

I think I could show that all this is illogical, but I can do 
better than that; I can show that it is unscriptural. Nor do 
I have to go far in Scripture to find what I want. " Ye are 
bought with a price," is the text. The very next word after 
the word price is the word therefore. What office does the 
word therefore perform? Of course it introduces the con- 
clusion which the apostle draws from what has just been 
said. What conclusion is that? I read the whole verse: 
" Ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your 
body and in your spirit which are God's." Is there nothing 
claimed? Nay, rather, everything is claimed. The entire 
man, soul and body, is claimed. All the powers physical, 
all the energies intellectual, all the affections emotional, are 

20 



326 The Old Theology. 

summoned, not to indolence but to activity. All that there 
is of manhood is required to glorify God. Can this be done 
by listlessness and inaction? A clod of earth, mere insensate 
matter, may glorify God by perpetual inertia ; but a living, 
thinking being, an organism of energies, can glorify him 
only by action, action, action. " Ye are bought with a price, 
therefore glorify God." This is apostolic logic, rather divine 
logic, almighty logic, which rushes over and overwhelms the 
sophistry of fatalism. 

Nor is it duty only, that is, mere duty and nothing more, 
to glorify God. If it were not duty, it is a glorious privilege! 
What ! is it possible that we can glorify God ? Such crea- 
tures as we? And can we glorify him in our bodies which 
are clay? And in our spirits which are all defiled by sin? 

Yes, we glorify God in our bodies, when we use them as 
they were intended to be used, without abusing them. Every- 
thing that fills its destiny glorifies God. Cleanliness, chastity, 
personal purity, glorifies God. 'Tis pure religion to keep our- 
selves unspotted. Manual labor glorifies God. Let the hand 
do with its might what it finds to do, and God is glorified 
thereby. 

Physical enjoyment, when rational and lawful, glorifies 
God. Whatever we do, whether we eat, or drink, or wake, or 
sleep, all may be done to the glory of God ; and if all may be, 
then it ought to be. Let us thank God that he takes delight 
even in our enjoyments and recreations, and that even in our 
sleep we may glorify him, by gathering strength with which 
to serve him for another day. Oh, the joy of life ! Oh, 
the rapture of living when every act, and every breath, 
waking or sleeping, glorifies God ! 

We may also glorify God in our spirits, vile as our spirits 
are, by faith in his word, and by faith in his Son ; by an 
inner life of devout meditations and holy desires, and by a 
consecrated heart filled with love. 



The Great Purchase. 327 

FINALLY. 

If we glorify God in our bodies he will glorify us in our 
bodies, and will raise us up in the last day, like unto his 
glorious body who died for us and gave himself for us, and 
who now sitteth on the right hand of the Majesty on high. 

And if we glorify him in spirit he will also glorify us in 
spirit, and will conform us to the image of his Son. 

Then shall the work of redemption be complete, when 
all of God's elect shall be delivered up to the Father in con- 
sideration of the ransom price that was paid ; and an eternity 
of joy will be before them. 

In view of the whole subject, we have ground for rejoicing 
that our salvation is made secure by the terms of an eternal 
compact, for the Law having accepted the price, can never 
claim us more ; and for gratitude unutterable to him who, so 
far as we know or believe, has done more for us than for any 
other of his creatures ; and for holy exultation for this, that 
we are placed in such a position that angels and archangels 
look up to us rather than down upon us, regarding us, doubt- 
less, as the most wonderful beings in all the creation of God, 
anomalous, peerless; and for humility profound and over- 
whelming, for it is from rags and wretchedness and pollution 
that we are lifted to this high estate ; and for devout con- 
secration to him who gave his life for ours, and paid for us in 
his own blood, and who has a right to our lives, our labors, 
our affections, and our all; and for amazement beyond 
measure at the wonders of redemption ; and for enthusiasm, 
admiring, loving, rapturous, kindled to seraphic ardor, and 
bursting into flame in view of the splendor and grandeur of 
the disclosures of wisdom, power, and love in " the glorious 
gospel of the blessed God ! " Hallelujah ! Hallelujah ! Halle- 
lujah ! Amen and Amen ! 



328 The Old Theology. 

The foregoing sermon has been publicly spoken of as presenting 
what is technically Itnowii as the " Commercial Yiew of the Atone- 
ment," the doctrine of which view is, that we were indebted to the 
Almighty to a certain and definite extent, and that Christ paid the 
debt, giving so much for so mucli, and thus set us free from further 
demand. I have to say : 1. That the sermon does not treat of the 
atonement at all ; it treats of redemption, which is a different thing. 
2. That a sermon from me on the atonement would not advocate the 
commercial view. It is true that what debts we owe, Christ has paid ; 
but lie has done vastly more than this : he has purchased our persons. 
He has indeed obtained pardon for us— official exemption from 
penalty; besides this, he has procured forgiveness for us— personal 
restoration to favor ; he intercedes for us ; he has unified liimself with 
us; he has made us "sons of God," and "joint-heirs" with himself; 
he has prepared a place for us ; lie has sent the Holy Spirit to instruct 
us, to comfort us, to sanctify us, so that we shall be prepared for the 
place which is prepared for us. Surely, all this is far more than 
merely putting us in the position of discharged debtors. 

The present sermon is intended to be an expansion of the 
apostle's thought when he referred to the plan of salvation under the 
figure of a purchase and sale. In this transaction, there is only one 
real Person, namely, God in the second Person of the Trinity ; the 
other party to what is represented as a bargain is only a figurative 
person— the Law. The figure, happily chosen, shows how our rela- 
tions to God, and to the Law, are changed by the work of Christ, 
and gives us, perhaps, a clearer insight than any other figure, into the 
plan whereby sinners are saved. In our Saviour's memorable prayer 
he says : "Thine they were, and thou gavest them me." Here there 
were two actual persons, the Father and the Son. Those who con- 
stitute the gift, in one case, are the same as those who are purchased 
in the other— the elect. The word gave is as really a figure of speech 
as the word bought, for whatever is the Father's is the Son's, and 
whatever is the Son's is the Father's, and this has been so from 
eternity. The two passages, one speaking of us as a gift, and the 
other speaking of us as a purchase, are used to present different 
phases of that mysterious transaction of the divine mind, whose 
result is the salvation of sinners. All language which speaks of the 
mental operations of the Infinite One must be figurative ; and all our 
conceptions of the same must be inadequate. Something of what 
Jesus Christ did in person, we know; but of the activities of the 
divine mind in eternity, we know vastly less. Still, revelation, as 
much as we can bear, has been made. The gift lets in light on the 
subject from one side ; the purchase lets in light from another sido. 



The Great Purchase. 329 

It may aid our conceptions a little to say, that Christ received us from 
the Father as a gift, and from the Law as a purchase. All who were 
given were purchased, and none others were purchased. All who 
were purchased were given, and none others were given. Both 
figures illustrate the same res gesta, but in different aspects. In the 
case of the gift, the donor and donee knew who were given and 
received, as definitely as, in the case of the purchase, those who were 
bought and sold were known by the vendor and vendee; and in 
neither case was anything done in ignorance, nor without eternal 
premeditation. All who were both given and bought will certainly 
be saved ; no others will be, or can be. At any rate, both figures are 
Scriptural, both were given for our instruction, and from both we 
learn much to enlighten our minds, to invigorate our faith, to 
brighten our hopes, and to warm our love. 

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, 
Is laid for your faith in his excellent word ! 
What more can he say, than to you he hath said, 
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled ? 



2C2 



SERMON XIX. 

THE USES. BEAUTIES, AND SYMBOLICAL 

TEACHINGS OF THE ORDINANCE 

OF BAPTISM. 

'* As many of you as have been baptized into Clirist have put 
on Christ."— Galatians iii. 27. 

IT is the duty of all who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and love him in sincerity, to confess him publicly be- 
fore the world. I might show that this is so from the word 
of God, or I might show it on rational grounds. I might 
urge, among other reasons, that, without this public con- 
fession, one could not exert that influence which he owes to 
the cause of his Saviour and his God. I will not dwell on 
this point, but will suppose it to be conceded, that those who 
really do believe in Jesus Christ, and are willing to serve 
him with singleness of heart, ought to make the fact known. 

There are various ways in which this publication might 
be made. It might be made in some cases through the news- 
papers. One might make it known by oral communication 
to each of his friends individually ; or he might announce 
the fact, either in person or by proxy, on one or more occa- 
sions, before some popular assembly ; or it might, perhaps, be 
made known in the course of a long time, by a devout and 
Christian life, without any express declaration of change. 

If it should so happen, that of all the various ways of 
making the fact known, there should be one which reason 
would lead us to believe better than any other, it would be 
our duty to adopt that way. The best way, is the one which 
the Christian ought always to choose. If it should so be, that 
330 



Symbolical Teachings of Baptism. 331 

God has prescribed a particular way of doing it, we may be 
sure that that is the best way, and we are bound to adopt it 
for a double reason : First, because it is the best way ; and 
second, because God has prescribed it, either of which would 
be sufficient without the other ; but if both exist together, the 
obligation would seem to be, in some sense at least, of double 
force. If, in addition to all this, the Lord had shown us why 
it is a more excellent way, the obligation to adopt it would 
be, if possible, stronger still; for in this case, our reason, as 
well as our conscience, and our allegiance to God, would each 
be separately appealed to. We are bound to do it as God's 
creatures, because he has commanded it; as moral beings, 
because our moral sense requires it; and as intellectual 
beings, because our reascm approves it. 

The ordinance of baptism is the method of publishing 
faith in Jesus Christ which has been selected by Infinite 
Wisdom, and enjoined by the Almighty on all his people. 
^Thus," said our Saviour, "thus it becometh us to fulfill all 
righteousness." " Thus," that is, m this manner. What he 
was then doing, it becomes all his people to do. He was 
submitting to the ordinance of baptism, and his people 
" thus," that is, in the same way, should fulfill their righteous 
obligations to God. It is worthy of remark, that the first 
precept in the New Testament which enjoins baptism, should 
be a precept embodied in an example; as if our Lord, to 
guard against misconstruction of his language, had himself 
performed the act designated in the precept. " Thus," then, 
is not a mere expletive, but becomes a word of some mean- 
ing; it is at once descriptive and preceptive, and is of 
binding authority ; for the Lord hath said it. Those only 
obey who do "thus.'' In the commission which Christ gives 
to his ministers, he says: "Go ye therefore, and teach all 
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." We find that the apostles. 



332 The Old Theology. 

acting on this commission, always baptized persons as soon as 
they believed on Jesus Christ. The same duty is binding on 
us, whether we see the reasonableness of it or not. The 
express command of Jesus Christ is reason enough for the 
doing of anything, without inquiring further. We learn 
from the Scriptures, however, many important advantages 
which accrue from this particular way of publishing our 
faith in the gospel of Christ. 

Baptism is a symbol addressed to the senses. As such it 
is much more impressive than any other expression of the 
truths it is designed to teach. We all know that impressions 
on the eye are stronger, and more lasting, and more instruc- 
tive than those made on the ear. A lecture on chemistry, 
for example, however able and lucid it may be, conveys but 
little information to the minds of the hearers, unless accom- 
panied by experiments; and even what knowledge it does 
convey is likely to be speedily forgotten. But let the actual 
experiment be performed before the eyes of the pupil, and he 
understands clearly and in a moment that which was but 
faintly comprehended before; and, having seen as well as 
heard, an indelible impression is made on his memory. It 
was doubtless in observance of this principle, that when our 
Saviour wished to inculcate a child-like spirit, not satisfied 
with merely stating the doctrine in the hearing of his disci- 
ples, " he called a little child unto him, and set him in the 
midst of them, and said, Except ye be converted, and become 
as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of 
heaven." If the lesson had been addressed to the ear alone, 
they might have forgotten it. Doubtless thousands of the 
sayings of Jesus of Nazareth were forgotten by those who 
heard them, and this might have been one of the forgotten 
things. But they never could forget the scene, when Jesus 
took a little child, and set him in their midst, and they stood 
around, and the Saviour, perhaps laying his hand on the 



Symbolical Teachings of Bai>tism. 333 

head of the little one, said, " Whosoever therefore shall 
humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in 
the kingdom of heaven."* 

All the doctrines taught by the ordinance of baptism are 
taught in the written and in the preached word. But this 
symbol preaches them over again, and in different kind of 
language — in the more impressive, if not more expressive, 
language of signs. Thus, if, in another ordinance, bread and 
wine are made preachers, and if, by the illustration of our 
Saviour, every little child is made a preacher, so also is 
baptism a preacher, commissioned of God and appointed by 
him to teach certain lessons of wisdom- to his people. Every 
baptismal wave is eloquent with instruction. 

Let us see what are some of these symbolical teachings, 
and thus we shall be able to appreciate the uses and beauties 
of this heaven-ordained institution. 

1. Here is a washing — a total ablution of the whole body 
— in an element which possesses the delightful property of 
cleansing. It is what chemists call a universal solvent — an 
element under whose magic influence every kind of impurity 
is dissolved and passes away — an element whose touch makes 
clean. Inspired by the thought of purity, may I not wander 
a little from the subject of my discourse? How happy a 
thing it is that water has the power of cleansing! Doubtless 
every pious man, when he slakes his thirst with cool water, 
lifts his heart to God in thankfulness for that pure and de- 
lightful beverage which he has prepared to invigorate his 
creatures and beautify his footstool. But does it ever occur 
to us to thank God that he has given to this element the 
power of cleansing? Suppose it had not this power. It 
might still quench our thirst ; but how soon would the world 
be involved in wretchedness and disease, and our abodes, our 
garments, and our bodies become objects of loathing! Or 
suppose that this cleansing, purifying element were rare, and 



334 The Old Theology. 

therefore costly, and inaccessible to many. Thank God that 
water cleanses, and that everybody can get it ! The poor 
have access to it in abundance as well as the rich. Thank 
God for gushing springs, and cool wells, and purling streams, 
and mighty rivers, and broad oceans! The element of purity 
is the most abundant on earth. This fact itself preaches. 
Yes, bubbling brooks and the roar of old ocean, preach to 
men. Thank God for this mighty purifier and this mighty 
preacher ! Two-thirds of a world full of water ! And that 
the purifier itself may be kept pure, thank God he has pre- 
pared in the laboratory of nature the potent saline antiseptic, 
and hidden in it the caves of the deep, so that as the rivers 
return to the great reservoir .whence they came, laden with 
the impurities of earth, they are divested of that burden by 
the great catharist, made pure, revivified, and rejuvenated, 
and sent heavenward, as if to receive the finishing touch of 
purity, and descend to the earth in showers, washing the very 
air as they fall, (thank God for that !) refreshing the earth 
and gladdening the heart of man. 

Pardon the episode. Yet perhaps it is not so great a di- 
gression from the subject of our discourse, for there is a pro- 
priety and a beauty, such as the taste of God approves, in the 
selection of this purifying, cleansing, refreshing, delightful 
element as the instrument of baptism. The preacher, of all 
others, should have clean hands and a pure heart. Water is 
a preacher, and is in its very essence, purity itself, and the 
agent of universal cleanliness. 

But to return to the point. Here is a washing of the 
whole body in water. Yet it is a religious act. As such it 
must be for the benefit of the soul. Yet water cannot cleanse 
the soul, or even touch it. But the act symbolically teaches 
that the soul needs cleansing. It is a practical confession 
that the soul is defiled. It is saying to the world that with- 
out a washing, a total washing of some sort, the soul is unfit 



Symbolical Teachings of Baptism. 335 

for the kingdom of God, where all is immaculate. It is a 
washing of the whole body, which shows that the soul is 
stained all over with sin, and that no part of it is unpolluted. 
Let me not be satisfied with a symbol which shows that my 
soul is only spotted, as it were, with sin, and needs only a 
partial cleansing. No. If the symbol would express the 
sentiment of my heart, let it show that my whole soul is cc»r- 
rupt, and that there is no cleanness in it. Let it be a sym- 
bol which cannot be misunderstood. Let it be one, the 
meaning of which, in spite of the narrowest construction, will 
even yet be comprehensive enough to cover the whole ground. 
Such is baptism. As you see the candidate go down into the 
water, he proclaims by that act, before men, before angels, 
and before God, "Unclean, unclean, all over''/ Here is 
a sermon, saints and sinners, which you may do well to 
listen to. 

2. But this is not all — this is only the beginning. While 
the ordinance teaches that we need cleansing, it also teaches 
that we are cleansed. As one comes out of the water, by 
that act, he proclaims his belief that there is a fountain that 
cleanses from sin. His act is the echo of the sentiment of 
Zion's song : 

There is a fountain filled with blood 

Drawn from Immanuel's veins. 
And sinners plunged beneath that flood 

Lose all their guilty stains. 

Emero;ino; from the wave washed all over with the emblem 
of purity, by the act itself, he says (and oh, how impres- 
sively!), "Not of myself can I be made clean; something 
out of myself, something extraneous from my soul as this 
water is from my person, must remove the stain of my sin." 
As this ablution of the body is copious enough to remove 
every impurity, leaving not a spot untouched, so the spiritual 
washing which it represents is ample enough to cleanse from 



336 The Old Theology. 

all sin, and to present the soul to God " without spot, or 
wrinkle, or any such thing." Oh! give me the symbol that 
teaches " that the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us 
from all sin." As I hope to be made wholly pure — as I hope 
to be one of the spirits of the just made perfect, give me a 
sign which will show that I am washed all over in the 
precious blood of the atonement. Let me not be satisfied 
with less than this. Let me have a symbol that will set 
forth, not only the truth, but the whole truth. If the thing 
signified be total cleansing, let the sign represent totality — 
let it indicate the glorious fact in all its plenitude. Let me 
have an ordinance that will sweetly harmonize with my feel- 
ings, when I say to my Saviour : 

Plunge me in that sacred flood- 
In that fountain of thy blood ; 

Then tliy Father's eye shall see 
Not a spot of guilt in me. 

3. But more. " Know ye not that so many of us as were 
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death ? 
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; 
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory 
of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of 
life." Thus baptism teaches not only that there is a cleans- 
ing, but that the death and resurrection of Chi'ist are 
the grounds of it. Let me never see one buried and put out 
of sight beneath the wave, without remembering the lesson 
it so eloquently teaches, that the Lord of glory, whose throne 
is in the heavens, lay buried in the earth ; that this humilia- 
tion was for me ; and that that act was the finishing stroke 
in the work of atoning for my sin. Let me never see one 
emerge from the watery tomb without remembering that 
Christ is risen; that I have a living Saviour; that he who 
stood by the sepulchre and said " Mary," calls me by name 
too; that he who died to save me lives to love me; that he 



Symbolical Teachings of Baptism. 337 

\vho shed his blood for me lives to plead its efficacy. "If 
Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your 
faith is also vain." But Christ is risen, and the act of 
emerging from the water is appointed by him to remind us 
of the fact. Thanks be to God for the glorious fact, and 
thanks for this visible remembrancer — this silent but im- 
pressive preacher of it! 

4. But baptism teaches another lesson : " As many of you 
as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." The 
expression, '" as many of you as," is equivalent to the phrase, 
" all who." So then all who " have been baptized into 
Christ" are the persons of whom it is affirmed, that they 
have "put on Christ." What is meant by putting on Christ? 
It means to clothe oneself (using a strong figure) with the 
spirit and character of Christ, so as to present to all beholders 
nothing but a Christ-like appearance. It implies, then, that 
we are conformed to his image, totally consecrated to him, 
and united and identified with him. " Know ye not that si 
many of us as were baptized iuto Jesus Christ were baptized 
into his death ? " We are dead to the woi'ld — to all its cares, 
and business, and joy, and folly ; dead to all but Christ. We 
are buried out of sight of the world ; we thereby renounce 
the world. Hereafter we care nothing for it. It has no 
hold upon us. Christ is our all, and we are his. The world 
should have no more hold upon our afiections than upon a 
dead man who has no affections. We rise to newness of life 
: — to a new world, as it were, of which Christ is the centre 
and sum. You see one descend into the water. By that act 
he proclaims to you that he is done with the world, that 
henceforth he stays in it only in obedience to his Master's 
will, and only to promote his glory, and to enjoy its blessings 
only according to the word of God ; and that all its forbidden 
pleasures, its hopes, its lusts, its covetousness, he utterly re- 
nounces. You see one arise. By that act he declares that it 

2D 



338 The Old Theology. 

is his intention to walk in newness of life. As he comes up 
dripping from the wave, he says, '* I have given myself to the 
Lord. I have given him my time, my talents, my heart, my 
personal services, my fortune — the whole of it, and all that I 
have, and all that I am." Oh, it is a solemn vow that we make 
before God in baptism ! It is a declaration to God before 
the world that we are his — our lives and our fortunes conse- 
crated to his service ! How great a desecration of this ordi- 
nance for any one to receive it who mak^s no such promise, 
or who does not appreciate any of its teachings ! There were 
none such among the Galatians ; for the apostle says, "As 
many of you as have been baptized into Jesus Christ have 
put on Christ"; that is, all who have been baptized into 
Christ have professed his spirit and his religion. 

And, my brethren, how fearful is the condition of those 
of us who have not fulfilled the solemn vow taken upon 
us voluntarily in baptism ! Our whole bodies were sub- 
merged in token of total, not of partial, consecration. Have 
we given our souls to the Lord ? Do we keep back from the 
Lord any of the time, the thought, the affection, the energy, 
or the money that belongs to him ? Remember, when you 
gave your whole body to the wave, you gave your whole self 
and all your possessions to the Lord by the most solemn act 
of your life — an act far more solemn than the oath you take in 
a court of justice; for that is to men, calling God to witness; 
but this is an oath to God, calling men to witness. If you 
prove recreant to this solemn and awful vow, are you not de- 
ceived in supposing yourself fit for the kingdom of God? 
Here is the oath of allegiance to the Almight}^ not only 
spoken, but anted, that it may be more impressive ; and, if, 
after that, there is any part of your life or fortune that is not 
dedicated to God, and considered as his and not yours, you 
have violated the most awful obligations that a human soul 
can take upon itself True, such a sweeping principle as this 



Symbolical Teachings of Baptism. 339 

may sweep many a one out of the charcli who is in it, but the 
Church of Christ would not be the loser by such a loss. In 
the last day, it will be found to sweep many a one away as 
the chaff before the whirlwind. 

Brethren, whenever you see one buried with Christ in 
baptism, remember that once you were buried, and thus pro- 
fessed to renounce the world. Whenever you see one arise, 
remember that once you, by the same act, professed a deter- 
mination to walk in newness of life. If you had never made 
such a vow in your baptism, this ordinance that you will 
presently witness would not remind you of your duty, and cer- 
tainly could not remind you of a broken vow — none having 
ever been made. But you did make it. The act was your 
own, and not another's. You acted for yourself, and not 
another for you without your knowledge. You were not 
unconscious ; but, in the full possession of mature faculties, 
you acted knowingly, understandingly, and deliberately. Let 
the spectacle you are about to witness remind you of what 
you have done. 

5. The ordinance also teaches us that Christ is our pat- 
tern. It is in imitation of his example, as well as in obe- 
dience to his command, that we submit to this rite. Beauti- 
fully depicted by the poet is the scene, when the forerunner 
of the Son of God administered this impressive rite in 
Jordan's stream. 

It was a cool spot in the wilderness, 
Touched by the river Jordan. 

• ••••. 

Softly in 
Through a long aisle of willows, dim and cool, 
Stole the clear waters with their muffled feet, 
And hushing as they spread into the light, 
Circled tiie edges of the pebbled tank 
Slowly, then rippled through the woods away. 
Hither had come the apostle of the wild, 
Winding the river's course. 'Twas near the flush 



340 The Old Theology. 

Of eve, and with a multitude around, 
Who from their cities had come out to hear, 
He stood breast high amid tlie running stream, 
Baptizing as the Spirit gave him power. 

Silent upon the green and sloping bank 
The people sat, and mused if he were Christ. 

The rippling stream 
Still turned its silver courses from his breast 
As he divined their thought. "I but baptize," 
He said, *' with water ; but there cometh One 
The latchet of whose shoes I may not dare 
Even to unloose. He will baptize with fire 
And with the Holy Ghost." And lo ! while yet 
The words were on his lips, he raised his eyes, 
And on the bank stood Jesus ! 

• • • • • • 

He waited to go in. But John forbade, 

And hurried to his feet and stayed liim there, 

And said : "Nay, Master ! I have need of thine, 

Not thou of mme .' " And Jesus with a smile 

Of heavenly sadness, met his earnest looks, 

And answered, " Suffer it to be so now ; 

For thus it doth become me to fulfill 

All righteousness." And leaning to the stream, 

He took around him the apostle's arm. 

And drew him gently to the midst. 

The wood 
, Was thick with a dim twilight as they came 

Up from the water. With his clasped hands 
Laid on his breast, the apostle silently 
Followed his Master's footsteps ; when lo! a light. 
Bright as the tenfold glory of the sun. 
Yet lambent as the softly burning stars. 
Enveloped them, and from the heavens away 
Parted the dim blue ether like a veil ; 
And as a voice fearful exceedingly 
Broke from the midst, "This is my much-loved Son, 
In whom I am well pleased," a snow-white dove. 
Floating upon its wings descended through ; 
And shedding a swift music from its plumes, 
Circled, and fluttered to the Saviour's breast ! 



Symbolical Teachings of Baptism. 341 

Presently you will see the same rite administered, the 
example of which was set eighteen hundred years ago, by 
our Great Exemplar and Lawgiver. Let it teach you that in 
this, as in all things else, Christ is our pattern. As God once 
said to Moses : " See that thou make all things according to 
the pattern showed to thee in the mount," so let us remember 
that in this ordinance Christ says to us : " See that thou do 
all things according to the pattern that I showed thee in the 
river Jordan." 

6. This ordinance also teaches, that by faith we are united 
to Christ. As one's body is plunged into the water and en- 
veloped, and as it were lost in it, so his soul, if he be a true 
believer, is buried in Christ, and as it were enveloped in his 
soul, and thus united with it, and thus made the object of 
God's everlasting love, and therefore forever safe, happy, and 
blest. "For ye are dead," says an apostle, "and your life is 
hid with Christ in God." Col. iii. 3. Dead to the world and 
hid from its sight in baptism ; but our life, our soul, is hid 
with Christ in God. As the whole body is received into the 
embrace of the wave, so the soul is received into the bosom 
of God. The perishable is immersed into the emblem of 
purity — the imperishable into purity itself. " Baptized into 
Christ!" There is profound significancy in the phrase. 
Thank God that the simple act of faith immerses the believer 
into the bosom of his love. Thus is answered our Saviour's 
prayer: "That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in 
me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us." 

7. Baptism teaches also the union of Christians. Not 
only are they united to Christ, but to each other. As sub- 
stances, however different, yet if all plunged beneath the 
same fluid, will all come out of it subject to its action, and 
therefore in that respect alike, and all of a color, as it were — 
so Christians, however various their characters, if their souls 
have been baptized into Christ, will " all be one," and will 

2D2 



342 The Old Theology. 

• > ■ 
all bear the marks of his love upon them, and thus be in 

uniform — in the uniform of "one Lord, one faith, one bap- 
tism." 

8. Furthermore and lastly. By this ordinance we profess 
our belief in the final resurrection of the body, as well as in 
the immortality of the soul. '■' Christ is risen from the dead," 
says the Scripture, " and become the first fruits of them that 
slept." Others had risen from the dead before him, but they 
died again. Christ was the first who rose from the power of 
death entirely — the first who rose to immortality. He is the 
first fruits of these — the first sheaf, as it w^ere, which is an 
earnest of the whole harvest ; as an apostle elsewhere says, 
"Christ the first ivmis— afterward they that are Christ's at 
his coming." The first sheaf is of the same nature as those 
that will follow ; so, if we know what the first is, we may 
know what to expect in the rest. Christ, then, rose with an 
immortal body, glorious as the sun when he shineth in his 
strength, and this body was received in a cloud up to heaven 
out of sight. Tiiis was the first sheaf, and the others will be 
like unto it ; " for he shall change our vile body, that it may 
be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the 
working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto 
himself" " As we have borne the image of the earthly, Ave 
shall also bear the image of the heavenly." "If we have 
been planted together in the likeness of his death," as we are 
in baptism, " we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrec- 
tion." An apostle also says, " If the dead rise not at all, 
why are they then baptized for the dead ?" That is, if there 
he no resurrection from the dead, why are we commanded to 
use a symbol w^hich teaches that there is a resurrection ? So, 
then, as you see one arise from the water, glittering with ten 
thousand drops of the element that best reflects the light of 
heaven, you are taught that the child of God will I'ise from 
the grave, resplendent with glory, and clothed with immor- 



Symbolical Teachings of Baptism. 343 

tality. With this precious hope before us, we can say, " O 
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 
" Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our 
Jiord Jesus Christ," " who burst the bars of death, and 
triumphed o'er the grave!" As you see one's body raised 
from the watery tomb, thus in the last day will that same 
body triumphantly rise and proclaim its victory over death 
and hell. 

The Almighty does nothing without a reason. If this be 
-so, the ordinance of baptism has not been arbitrarily selected, 
nor struck upon at random. It must be that there are some 
special and valuable ends to be accomplished by this act ; and 
it must be, that no act but this can accomplish these ends, 
otherwise it would not have been singled out in preference to 
all others ; and it must be, that if any other act be substituted 
for this, these ends are defeated, and the ordinance becomes 
at once meaningless and useless. For the most part, we can 
see but a little way into the motives of the Almighty ; but iii 
this instance, having seen how strikingly and how beautifully 
the ordinance of baptism typifies nearly all the leading doc- 
trines of the gospel, we are prepared to appreciate something 
of the divine wisdom in prescribing this particular ceremony, 
above all others, as the initiatory rite into the Christian 
Church. (See note on p. 345.) 

It teaches most impressively the necessity of a total cleans- 
ing—in other words, the doctrine of total depravity. It 
teaches that there is such a total cleansing, that we may be 
cleansed from all sin and that the whole soul may be washed 
and made clean — in other words, the doctrine of a complete 
atonement. It teaches that the death and resurrection of 
Christ are the grounds of that cleansing. It teaches that 
Christ is our Pattern and Exemplar. It teaches that we are 
united to Christ, made one with him, and thus objects of ever- 
lastinoj love. It teaches that we are united to each other, and 



344 The Old Theology. 

are all fashioned alike. It teaches that, as the result of all 
this, there will be a glorious resurrection of the saints to im- 
mortality. 

What a speaking fact is baptism — how instructive a 
preacher ! It seems to be an exponent of the whole Christian 
system. How it condenses, without crowding, a world of 
thought into a small compass! What a complete epitome, 
what a miniature gospel, is this one fact, beautiful in its 
minutest particular, on which each feature of the evangelical 
system is photographed ! Who does not recognize the like- 
ness of the gospel in the ordinance of baptism ? 

That which I have spent an hour in endeavoring to set 
forth, will now be tacitly preached over again before your 
eyes, succinctly recapitulated all in a moment by the watery 
symbol. The bosom of the deep reflects the image and the 
light of heaven, but the more honored wave of baptismal 
waters reflects the better light of the heaven of heavens — the 
truth of the word of God. What a significant deed is this ! 
Let men tax their ingenuity to find one other single act that will 
symbolize so many gospel truths. In vain are the inventions 
of men substituted for the designs of God. Here is a rite so 
impressive that none who ever saw it ever forgot it. The 
sermon which you have this morning heard, you may forget ; 
but the sermon which you will presently see, you never can 
forget ; nor will the recipient of the rite ever inquire of others 
for information as to this part of his history. In baptism you 
behold a rite which never loses its interest, but is gazed upon 
for the thousandth time as at the first, and even with a fresh 
and increasing interest ; a rite so attractive that all classes 
of people, the pious and the thoughtless, the aristocrat and 
the plebeian, the poet and the sage, all come up in multitudes 
to witness it, and thus bear testimony (many of them unwill- 
ingly, and more of them unwittingly) to its beauty and its 
impressiveness ; a rite which, for eighteen hundred years, has 



Symbolical Teachings of Baptism. 345 

never lost that hold upon the mind of man which it had at 
its institution, when " Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the 
region round about Jordan," flocked to the river-side to be- 
hold it ; a rite overpowering in its interest and yet majestic 
in its simplicity, and not set off with the pomps and gewgaws 
that would gratify a depraved taste ; a rite which, to the pure 
and intellectual, is beautiful, because appropriate and expres- 
sive, for all such are aware that without both appropriateness 
and expression there can be no beauty; a rite which all 
three Persons of the glorious Godhead have delighted to 
honor; for while the Father spoke from heaven and sanc- 
tioned it, the Son submitted to it in the river Jordan, and 
the Holy Ghost visibly descended and shed the unction of 
his wing over the scene; a rite which, though silent, is 
didactic, which, though dumb, is eloquent, and which will 
be a preacher of the doctrines of the gospel as long as rivers 
shall find their way to the sea, or as ocean's waves shall 
w^ash the shore. Hallelujah! Amen. 



Those who may wish for further light on the view of the 
ordinance of baptism given on page 243 are referred to 
" The Mould of Doctrine : A study of Komans vi. 17, as 
bearing on the Meaning and Value of the Specific Form of 
Baptism, as appointed by our Lord " ; published by the 
American Baptist Publication Society. 



SERMON XX. 

A CHARACTER AND A DESTINY, 

"He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall sud- 
denly be destroyed, and that without remedy." — Pkoverbs xxix. 1. 

IT is a mark of genius to be able to say a great deal in a 
few words; to present such thoughts in discussing a 
subject, as will develop the whole of it to the mind of the 
hearer, without the speaker's -going through the process 
himself. In the art of painting, he who is a master, by two 
or three strokes of his pencil, as it were recklessly dashed 
off, will present you with the likeness of a friend ; while the 
mere tyro, expending his energies on details rather than on 
striking features, after painting and repainting, produces at 
last a miserable daub, which is a likeness of no one. 

Thus also the true poet, wishing to present a scene to the 
imagination, knows how to seize upon and present those 
strong points which suggest all the others. A word which 
embodies the true characteristic, the distinguishing, differen- 
tiating, peculiarity of his theme, brings up the whole subject 
to the mind, better than a chapter of details which belong 
alike to it, and to a thousand others. The artist does not 
develop the subject, but by a superior genius puts it in such 
position that it develops itself. He drops into your mind 
the seed-thought; so that his conception is not presented to 
you in full and from without, but grows up within. 

In an ancient record of hoary antiquity, the writer, whose 

genius knows no rival, wishing to describe a certain class of 

persons, brings them up by a single dash of his pen, and by 

another completes the picture, and presents a likeness which 

346 



A Character and a Destiny. 347 

many a reader or hearer of his lines may instantly recognize 
as his own. "He that being often reproved hardeneth his 
neck." 

There you stand, completely reflected from the word of 
God, as from a mirror. Now turn, and see your destiny 
sketched by the same master hand. " Shall suddenly be 
destroyed." With a single stroke he brings it out. "And 
that without remedy." Another stroke has finished the 
work, and no more remains to be said. 

He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, 
Shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy ! 

Proverbs xxix. 1. 

Perhaps it may be w^ell for an humbler artist than Solo- 
mon to fill up the outline which he has sketched ; to present 
in detail the minuter features which his bolder pencil sug- 
gests, but does not delineate. 

^"He that being often reproved.'* From your very child- 
hood, from your earliest recollection, you have been the sub- 
ject of reproof. The waywardness of your juvenile years 
was often checked by faithful parents, sometimes kindly and 
gently, and by the eye alone, but an eye full of reproof A 
mother's tender admonitions have been afforded you, and a 
father's sterner rebuke. 

Reason and persuasion have been resorted to, every prin- 
ciple within you has been appealed to, every nerve in your 
soul has been touched. Reproof and entreaty, mildness and 
severity, have been mingled in all conceivable proportions. 
In childhood, the rod, that Scriptural remedy, has done its 
work. As years have advanced, the tear in a mother's eye 
has done a more potent work. Your parents have done their 
share in administering reproof. When from their juris- 
diction you passed to that of teachers, they too found it 
their duty to make you the subject of reproof. Perhaps in 
the Sunday-school also, your ears have often heard from a 



348 The Old Theology. 

kind but dutiful teacher, the words of reproof From the 
pulpit, every Lord's Day of your life, you have heard words 
of reproof. 

The messengers of God have sometimes gently whispered 
in your ears aifectionate admonition, and sometimes by con- 
vincing argument have fastened guilt upon you, sweeping 
away like cobwebs your excuses and cavils and apologies and 
defences; and, pursuing you with relentless logic, have driven 
you to the wall, whence there was no escape, and where you 
were obliged to listen; and have thundered in your ears 
reproof, — reproof not earth-born, but inspired. Again, when 
you have not been personally appealed to, the expository 
lecture delivered in your hearing — calm and passionless, but 
able and faithful, setting forth clearly the teachings of God's 
word, and developing its doctrines, — rhas embodied in it 
reproof — reproof in perhap3 its most efficacious form. For 
all Scripture is given for reproof as well as for doctrine, for 
correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Nor is this 
all. Many times you have opened your Bible, and on eveiy 
page you have found reproof. The Commandments reprove 
you. The whole Law is a reproof. The character of God 
as there set forth is a stupendous reproof. The history of 
Jesus Christ is a reproof. The Cross reproves you. Geth- 
semane reproves you. The tears and groans and blood of a 
dying Saviour reprove you. Opening graves and rending 
rocks and darkening heavens reprove you. A great cloud 
of witnesses reproves you. The noble army of apostles and 
prophets and martyrs reprove you. All around you in your 
walk through life, the example of all the good reproves you. 
Yes, the life of every good man you see is a reproof, not in 
words, but that stronger reproof which is embodied in action. 
A relative, a classmate, or an acquaintance who takes a single 
step towards renouncing sin and seeking God, by that very 
act reproves you. By that very act, though all unknown to 



A Character and a Destiny. 349 

himself, he gives you the most sincere, honest, inoffensive, 
yet potent expression of reproof that could possibly be made 
by words or deeds. His confessions and vows and tears con- 
demn himself, and through himself they reach you in the 
shape of not unkind, yet bitter reproof. 

As if all this were not enough, reproof has assailed you 
from another quarter. The fate of the bad, no less than the 
example of the good, reproves you. You have seen the 
wicked cut off in their sins ; you have seen them afflicted by 
disease, the result of their own folly and sin ; you have seen 
them clothed with wretchedness and rags ; and these things 
are the shocking dialect in which sin itself reproves you. 
You have seen a companion drunk with wine; and his idiotic 
driveling, frantic revelry, or insane raving, presenting so 
disgusting an object as the consequence of sin, has been a 
most energetic manifestation, by nature herself, of reproof. 

Perhaps sickness has visited you ; and parching fever or 
racking pain has been commissioned by the Almighty to ad- 
minister reproof. Perhaps your friends have been stricken 
down by your side. You have stood by the bedside of father 
or mother, or other dear relative, and witnessed the last of 
life. Perhaps with expiring accents, mingling grief with 
melting tenderness, clothing it not in its severer forms, but in 
the form of an invitation to meet him in heaven, the dying 
one has spoken words of reproof. From the coffin, cold, pale 
lips have reproved you; and as you gazed upon them, your 
wrong doings and wrong sayings have thronged upon your 
recollection, armed with scorpion scourges. From the grave, 
a still, small voice reproves you. Every mound in the city 
of the dead, and every memorial stone utter reproof, mute 
indeed, but touching. 

Nor is it only in sad and melancholy forms that you are 
visited by reproof. A most opposite manifestation of it is 
made in the beauties and pleasures of the world around you. 

2E 



350 The Old Theology. 

These things are the handiworks of God, and show forth the 
character of him against whom you have sinned, and thus 
administer reproof. A world bathed in beauty, the azure 
deep of day or the star-lit dome, — these administer reproof in 
the silent but magnificent eloquence of nature. The very 
birds that carol forth their lays on joyous wing, and thus 
glorify God to the extent of their capacity, reprove you. The 
bee that wheels along its industrious flight, laden with sweets 
drawn from even poisonous flowers, reproves you, who draw 
no good from anything. The beasts of the field reprove you. 
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib ; but 
men do not know, and will not consider, the relation they 
bear, and the duties they owe, to their Maker. 

The blessings of Providence reprove you. Your own 
health and prosperity are evidences of God's munificence, 
long-suflering, and love. And in the bestowal of continued 
goodness upon the unworthy and injurious, there is reproof, 
couched in its most tender, most energetic, most heart- 
melting, and most soul-subduing form. 

Besides all this, as if reproof from without w^ere not 
enough, God has implanted a secret monitor within you — 
your own conscience, which day by day, and night by night, 
year after year, has administered reproof, reproof, reproof. 

But all these things together, in their aggregate power, 
are not equal to another source of reproof that remains yet 
to be told. The Spirit of the ever-living God operates 
directly and immediately on your spirit. A part of the 
ofiice of the Holy Ghost is to " reprove the world of sin, of 
righteousness, and of judgment." The third Person of the 
adorable Trinity, empanoplied in all the glory of Godhead, 
with the majesty of insulted Heaven, and with the tender* 
ness of infinite love, to you in person addresses reproof! 

Here let us pause. What more reproof is possible ? If 
you should be cast into the world of woe, oh ! you will not 



A Character and a Destiny. 351 

say, " Why was I not warned in time ? Why did not the 
Almighty send messengers to reprove me, w^hen reproof 
could have been of some avail?" 

No! you will not slander your Maker there, by saying 
that he sent you no reproof. Your own consciousness will 
forever assure you that you have been often reproved ; yes, 
often, often, and times without number. 

Reproofs the most multiplied, and multipotent, and multi- 
form, and myriad-formed, assailing you through every one of 
your senses, and through every power of your mind, and every 
sensibility of your soul, have expended their varied and 
tremendous energies upon you every moment of your ex- 
istence, from your earliest childhood down to the latest 
moment of your life. Everything you see, or hear, or know, 
or feel, or think, is endowed with a tongue, and with the gift 
of tongues ; and in infinite polyglot, they have all together 
uttered, and do utter, and will forever utter, reproof, reproof, 
reproof ! 

Let us now look for a moment and see whether the first 
touch of the inspired pencil takes off your likeness. " He 
that being often reproved." Is not that exact ? The whole 
likeness is not here, it is true, for it takes another touch to 
finish it ; but is not here enough to show, in an instant, for 
whom it was intended ? 

Do you not see the history of your own life, the picture 
of your own soul, the experiences of your own heart, in this 
single master-stroke of delineation ? " He that beinoj often 
reproved." 

Observe now the remainder. "Hardeneih his nechJ' This 
is a figurative expression. The word "neck" would not be 
used in this way in our day. We should use a different 
figure and say, " hardeneth his hearV When we speak of 
hardening the heart, or when the Sacred Writer speaks of 
hardening the neck, what is meant ? It is meant to describe 



352 The Old Theology. 

one who, by a long resistance of the influences that ought 
to affect him, has brought his mind into such a frame that 
these influences caiinot affect him. When a man arrives 
at this state, when his sensibilities are all deadened, and 
he is past feeling, he answers to the description we are con- 
sidering. 

Have you ever been impressed with the truths of the 
gospel ? Are you a disciple of Jesus ? If not, the fact is 
proof that you have been hardening your heart. What could 
have resisted the powei of such reproofs but a heart indu- 
rated to a degree that we have no language to express ? If 
you prosper, doubtless you rejoice in it ; if you have sorrows, 
doubtless you grieve over them. Your sensibilities are ten- 
der enough in these respects. It may be, too, that your sym- 
pathies are warm and free ; you may not be a stranger to 
emotions of patriotism, benevolence, and generosity. But 
how much feeling have you in reference to the gospel ? Per- 
haps there is no truth in the Bible which has ever excited 
within you an emotion. When some men read, that " God 
so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life," they read it with tearful eyes, and with hearts 
glowing with gratitude and love. You read the same an- 
nouncement with apathy. The storm that passes over the 
lake ripples its surface and rolls it into waves. The same 
storm passes over the rock, and leaves its surface unchanged. 
The Spirit of God passes through his sanctuary and through 
the land, like the rushing of a mighty wind, and souls are 
agitated to their very depths, while yours is calm and undis- 
turbed. Its rock-like surface is unsusceptible of a ripple. 
You have attained to a state in which you are utterly unira- 
pressible. Look once more at the inspired sketch. " He 
that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck." 

Whose portrait is that ? Could its fidelity be greater if 



A Character and a Destiny. 353 

divine truth, like a superior sun, had flashed upon your soul, 
and cast its photograph upon the sacred page ? 

Turn we now to another picture. The royal artist, having 
finished the portrait of his subject, now with another dash of 
his pencil, inspired as it was for the purpose, depicts in lurid 
colors, its destiny. 

'^Shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.'^ 
The destruction spoken of does not imply annihilation. 
But it ^oes imply that all happiness will be forever cut off; 
that misery will come in like a flood, and roll over the lost 
spirit forever. It means that his nature will be incapacitated 
from enjoying anything that is enjoyable, so that pleasures, 
if he had them, would be no pleasures to him, and that 
heaven itself would be no better to him than hell. It means 
that he will hate the Eternal Father, and hate Christ, and 
hate the Holy Ghost, and hate all good beings and things, 
and hate truth, and hate himself, and be hateful to every 
intelligent being in the universe, good and bad, created and 
uncreated. This is destruction. Doubtless it will be ad- 
mitted that destruction is not too bad a name for it. 

This destruction will be sudden. It may fairly date from 
the moment when the Spirit of God ceases to strive. Many 
heaven-appointed messengers have been sent to reprove you ; 
some departed spirit, as a guardian angel, may have been 
commissioned to whisper sweet and loving reproof. When 
God says to these messengers, and to that guardian spirit, 
" Let him alone " ; when the last influence which the mercy 
of Heaven intends to be brought to bear upon you shall have 
been resisted ; and when this is recorded in the great book of 
accounts, — then your fate is sealed. This awful moment in 
your history may come when you are least expecting it. The 
turning point will occupy but a moment. It will be sudden 
as a flash of lightning. It will be done silently; done in 
heaven, the flash will make no report; on earth we shall 

2E2 



354 The Old Theology. 

know nothiDg of it ; but it will be done. Another awful 
moment will follow this, though it may be at the distance of 
years —the moment you cease to breathe. Then this destruc- 
tion, suddenly apportioned you, will be as suddenly realized. 

There is yet another feature of this succinct but graphic 
description. " Shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without 
remedy" You will be forever separated from all your 
friends who may be among the spirits of the just, and there 
will be no remedy ; for between you and them will be a great 
gulf which cannot be passed. You will be forever associated 
with the off-scourings of earth and with the spirits of the lost, 
and there will be no remedy ; for there is but one place for all 
them who have hardened themselves and resisted to the last. 
The worm that never dies will prey upon you, and there will 
be no remedy ; the fires of perdition will encircle you, and 
there will be no remedy ; and the wrath of God will be upon 
you, and there will be no remedy ; for the eternal wrath of 
God is not remediable. 

You may ask your philosophy, for you will take that with 
you there from here, and it will assure you that there is no 
remedy. Human reason will doubtless be far more perfect 
there than here, and it will demonstrate that there can be no 
remedy. You may appeal to higher intelligences; and 
bright angels, from their shining seats, will tell you that 
there is no remedy. You may appeal higher still, and with 
frenzied eye may search the word of God; and it will 
declare with dreadful emphasis that there is no remedy. 
From those dark abodes you may glance your eye up to 
God, and the awful frown of Jehovah will assure you, in 
silent but terrific dialect, that there is no remedy. If you 
have hope enough still uncrushed to prompt you to exclaim, 
" O my God ! my God ! is there no remedy ? " The Al- 
mighty, insulted once more, would gather up his wrath and 
thunder back, " Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire, pre- 



A Character and a Destiny. 355 

pared for the devil and his angels." And the consciousness 
of your own soul, and the witnessing universe would alike 
exclaim, "There is no remedy," and the walls of your 
prison-house, its gloomy arches, and ever-deepening cham- 
bers, would forever echo, "iVb remedy! no remedy! no remedy! 
no remedy! no remedy"! 

"He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck" — 
there is the man ! " Shall suddenly be destroyed, and that 
without remedy" — there is his destiny. Look at the first, 
and if you can say " Mine," you may look at the other and 
say, " Mine." These things, this character and this destiny, 
God has joined together, and they cannot be put asunder. 

Thank God, there is a gospel. Can you not now regard 
with emotion what a few moments ago you heard with indif- 
ference? "God so loved the world, that he gave his only 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life." Blessed words ! They 
teach us, that in this present state there is a remedy, amply 
sufficient for all who will use it. What if I am obnoxious 
to the wrath of the Almighty ? The blood of Christ is a 
remedy. God never turns his wrath on those who trust in 
his Son. He that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall 
be saved. "What if I am stained with the pollution of sin ? 
The blood of Christ is a remedy ; it cleanses from that stain. 
What if I am unworthy of the inheritance of the saints ? 
The blood of Christ is a remedy ; its wondrous power can 
make me worthy. AVhat if I am unqualified for the enjoy- 
ments of heaven ? The blood of Christ is a remedy ; for it 
can qualify nie. What if the law does condemn me ? The 
blood of Christ is a remedy ; for it lias satisfied the demands 
of the law. What if my conscience stings me ? The blood 
of Christ is a remedy ; it will extract every root of bitterness 
from my soul. What though I am beset with ten thousand 
nameless ills? The blood of Christ is a remedy for all ills. 



356 The Old Theology. 

What though death must seize me ? The blood of Christ is 
a remedy — the antidote of death. What though the grave 
must receive me? The blood of Christ is a remedy. The 
grave cannot hold me ; for Christ has burst its iron gates. 
What though the world may frown, and Satan condemn me ? 
I can face my fierce accusers, and tell them Jesus died, and 
find that the blood of Christ is a remedy for all their rage. 
All time and all eternity cannot bring upon me any injury 
for which the blood of Christ is not a remedy. A remedy, 
perhaps retrospective chiefly in its action here, but which in 
another world will be an eternal preventive ; a remedy not 
merely for troubles that have come, but to prevent all 
troubles forever from coming. 

Thank God for this great remedy. Oh, seize it while you 
may. " Him that cometh to me," says the Saviour, " I will 
in no wise cast out." Come, then, to Jesus ; and though, 
under frequent reproofs, you have hardened your neck, you 
shall not be destroyed, but will find a remedy ! 

While God invites, how blest the day ! 

How sweet the gospel's charming sound! 
Come, sinners, haste, oh, haste away, 

While yet a pardoning God is found. 

Soon, borne on time's most rapid wing, 
Shall deatli command you to the grave ; 

Before his bar your spirits bring. 
And none be found to hear or save. 

In that lone land of deep despair, 
No Sabbath's heavenly liglit shall rise, 

No God regard your bitter prayer. 
No Saviour call you to the skies. 

Now, God invites. How blest the day ! 

How sweet the gospel's charming sound ! 
Come, sinners, haste, oh, haste away. 

While yet a pardoning God is founil ! 



SERMON XXJ. 

NE W YEAR ' S SERMON. 
'•Kedeeming the time."— Ephesiaijb v. 16, and Colossians iv. 5. 

THIS expression occurs twice iu the New Testament ; once 
in Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, and once in his 
Epistle to the Colossians. In both instances the meaning 
appears to be the same. In both instances reference is made, 
in the context, to wisdom ; that is, as I suppose, to the true 
wisdom which leads a man to walk in the true way, and to 
walk in it " circumspectly," and " understanding what the will 
of the Lord is." The translation of the text, regarding it as 
merely verbal, appears to be correct ; yet these words fail to 
convey to our minds the thought expressed by the original. 
Instead of the word redeem, let us substitute the words buying 
up ; and instead of the word time, let us substitute the word, 
opportunity. We then have the expression, " Buying up the 
opportunity," as the real text which we are to consider ; and 
this rendering of the thought — "Buying up the opportunity" 
— has been settled on as cori-ect by the best modern scholar- 
ship ; and in the Revised Version these words are placed in 
the margin, as explanatory of the meaning of the words, 
" Redeeming the time." But what is meant by " Buying up 
the opportunity?" It seems to be implied that many oppor- 
tunities have been lost, and if lost, lost forever and not to be 
regained. In view of this, future opportunities are to be 
bought up, that is eagerly sought for, and obtained, as it 
were, at any price. Not that future diligence can atone for 
past delinquency, but that our obligations to diligence are 
increased by such delinquency. 
357 



358 The Old Theology. 

At the beginning of a new year, it is well to look over the 
past, and take an account of our losses, in order that in the 
future we may make them up if possible ; and if not, that we 
may at least meet increased obligations with increased zeal. 
In the year that has past, each one of us has lost many 
precious opportunities; no two of us perhaps are exactly 
alike in the number and kind of opportunities lost; some 
have lost in one way, and some in another ; some more, and 
some less ; but I doubt not that all have been heavy losers, 
and that all are therefore under weighty obligations to 
renewed effort in the divine life. 

Some have lost the great opportunity. They might long 
ago have come to enjoy peace with God, and they have not 
done it. This loss includes all other losses; for what is 
anything worth to anybody, so long as his heart is in a state 
of alienation from God ? Money is one of our most common 
measures of value, but how much money would it take to 
compensate a man for loss of peace with God ? Our loves 
and our friendships are very precious to us, but what good 
will all these do us in the great day of accounts, when God 
will either separate us from our friends and loved ones, or 
will send us and them all together to a world of woe ? Our 
sensuous enjoyments are valuable to us, for God gave them 
to us as sources of pleasure, but of what avail will these be, 
when sickness or old age deprive them of their zest, or when 
death shall put an end to them forever ? What is anything 
worth, what is everything worth, to a man who is alienated 
from God ? Those who have lost the opportunity to secure 
peace wdth him have lost all. Those who have not the true 
riches have no riches. The depth of their poverty is im- 
measurable. No language can describe the forlornness and 
desolateness and utter and infinite ruin of their condition. 
Many such are within the sound of my voice. They appear 
to be prosperous and happy, but they know that their hearts 



New Year's Sermon. 359 

are estranged from God; and so long as this condition 
continues, they are standing as it were on a projecting ledge 
— ^projecting over eternity, and from under which the sands 
of time are shifting away, and the coming of the fall, and of 
the crash is matter of certainty. They have had opportunity 
to stand upon a rock, upon the Rock of Ages — a rock whose 
foundations are laid in the eternal purposes of God's mercy, 
and which will stand forever. They have had a thousand 
opportunities, indeed they have had one every moment ; but 
up to this time, they have missed them all. Let the saints 
look upon them with intensest solicitude and with pro- 
foundest commiseration. 

This leads me to address another class of persons — those 
called to be saints, but who have not responded faithfully to 
their calling; and these are they whom chiefly the apostle 
addresses in the text, and that too with reference to their 
conduct " toward them that are without." You see uncon- 
verted sinners all around you. Some of them are in your 
families; some of them you press to your bosoms. How 
many opportunities have you lost of doing them good ? How 
many times have there been when a word of warning, or of 
caution, or of gentle admonition, or of kindly instruction, or 
of affectionate entreaty, might have been given with effect, 
and when you have failed to seize the opportunity ? It may 
be that during, the whole year, or perhaps during your whole 
life, you have never made one solitary effort for the salvation 
of a soul. No one can say he has had no opportunity for 
such things ; for every one has had opportunities without 
number. Many of these you have lost ; possibly all of them. 
Others may suffer by your negligence, and certainly ycu 
suffer by it. Who knows but that if you had used your 
opportunities, there might be many a gem in your crown of 
rejoicing which will never glitter there? And even if all 
your efforts had been failures, your reward would still have 



360 The Old Theology. 

been exceeding great. Effort — effort in doing good, is never 
a failure. The effort itself is success. How grand a stimulus 
to pious effort, that whether we succeed or fail, we neverthe- 
less succeed ! How brilliant the success, how magnificent the 
reward of that woman, of whom our Lord said : " She hath 
done what she could ! " Have you done what you could ? 
Have you done half of it ? Have you done any appreciable 
part of it? If not, what frightful losses you have met with ! 
If you had lost a thousand dollars at the end of every month 
in the year, you would consider yourself exceedingly un- 
fortunate. But the loss of any number of thousands would 
not be worthy to be compared to the loss of one opportunity 
to save a soul, or to try to do it. 

Descending now to matters of less, but still of great, im- 
portance, how much have you done, or, rather, how much 
have you failed to do, for the benefit of your fellow-men with 
regard to the interests of this present life ? If these interests 
are not so great as those of eternity, it is nevertheless a cry- 
ing sin to neglect them. If they are worthy of God's atten- 
tion, they are worthy of ours. How many hungry have you 
failed to feed, that you might have fed ? How many naked 
have you not clothed, that you might have clothed ? How 
many have shivered with cold, whom you might have 
warmed, and every one of whose shudders has sent to high 
heaven the tale of your heartless indifference ? How many 
a wail of suffering childhood has pierced the ear of the Lord 
of Sabbaoth with the recital of your disregard of humane 
obligation? You know of no such cases? How does it 
happen that you do not know, when such things are so easy 
to discover ? It can only be because you have closed your 
eyes. In this case, it can hardly be said that you have lod 
the opportunity ; you have thrown it away. Remember this 
saying of the word of God : " He that giveth unto the poor 
shall not lack : but he that hideth his eyes shall have many 



New Year's Sermon. 361 

a curse." Prov. xxviii. 27. Count up your losses, and see 
how you have impoverished yourself. 

Descending again to still smaller things, how many times, 
when you might have thrown a ray of sunshine on some- 
body's path, have you failed to do it ? In the daily inter- 
course of life, how many of its little courtesies and little 
kindnesses have you omitted ? How many smiles have you 
failed to scatter around you ? How often have you failed, 
in the petty annoyances of life, to fend off their irritations, 
and to give a pleasant turn to them, by a bright and cheery 
word ? How often have you failed, when those about you 
were perplexed with matters great or small, to lighten their 
burden by bearing part of it, and to strengthen them for the 
remainder by encouragement and sympathy? Think you 
that these things are too small to be mentioned in a sermon, 
and on a solemn occasion like this ? They are not too small 
to be entered up on God's book. To give the cup of cold 
w^ater is a very small tning ; not to give it is a very great 
thing. The characteristic bearing of one's daily life is his 
life. If all the extraordinary occasions of one's life were 
put in one scale, and all the ordinary occasions in the other, 
the latter would far outweigh the former. Two men may be 
equally correct in all the leading affairs of life, and yet one 
may illuminate and enliven, with a becoming cheerfulness, 
every circle he enters, while the other casts a gloom wherever 
he goes. One makes everything sweet ; the other makes 
everything sour. This general make-up of one's life counts 
in this world, and will count in the world to come. What- 
ever tells here will tell there. Has your daily walk been a 
daily blessing to everybody who has come within the sphere 
of your influence ? If it were all to go over again, could you 
not make for yourself a far brighter record ? If so, then see 
what innumerable opportunities you have lost ! Taken all 
together, the loss is a great one. Different deportment on 

2F 



362 The Old Theology. 

your part might have altered the whole course of somebody's 
life. It may be that husband, or wife, or brother, or son, or 
friend, might have been wholly a different person, under dif- 
ferent influence from you. The destiny of some for another 
world may have taken an unhappy direction, not from any 
prominent event in your life, but simply from the influence 
distilled imperceptibly from your habitual bearing ; and that, 
too, although on the more conspicuous matters of duty you 
have been comparatively blameless. There is no measuring 
the amount of loss you may have sustained, by forgetting 
that people are often more aflected by what you are, than by 
what you do. The little things of life, too insignificant to be 
named, are the things which show what you are. These are 
the straws that show the general drift of your character. 

Put all these thino^s toofether ; our failures in the little 
amenities of social and family life ; our failures in duty 
towards the widow and the orphan, and the sick, and the 
poor, and helpless, and homeless, and friendless; and our 
failures in duty to the souls of dying men, dying unprepared 
to meet their God, some of them our own flesh and blood ; 
and our failures in duty to the whole human race, every 
member of which is a brother, and to the whole world of 
which we are a part, — how vast our loss of opportunities, 
every one of which might have been turned to account ! 

There is another class of neglected opportunities, really 
included in principle with some that have been named, and 
also included in like manner with some yet to be named, but 
which are worthy of more specific mention. How many 
times, and in how many ways, have you neglected your duty 
to the church of which you are a member ? Do you attend 
its stated meetings for worship? Yes, perhaps on Sunday, 
when it is fashionable, but not on Wednesday night, when it 
is unfashionable. How many opportunities of united prayer 
with the people of God have you lost ? Some of you, I think 



New Year's Sermon. 363 

the great majority of you, have lost as many daring the year, 
and perhaps daring several years, as there are weeks in the 
year. Since I have occupied my present position, I think 
that not one member of this church in twenty has been found 
on Wednesday night in the place where he ought to be. 
How much has been your loss in respect to duty to the 
church ? No one can tell. The number of dollars for which 
a defaulter in bank is responsible can be counted; but the 
moral turpitude of a defaulter either of that kind or of your 
kind, can neither be counted nor measured. It is not for me 
to say how much guilt is incurred by default in religious 
duty to the church ; nor is it for you to say how little. God 
is our judge. But the lost opportunities are for you to con- 
sider. Look back over the year; count the lost days, week 
by week ; add them up, and try to form some conception of 
the responsibility incurred. 

But in counting up our losses at the end of the year, we 
shall fall far short of the facts, if we forget to name the op- 
portunities which we have lost to benefit our own souls. 
Steady efibrt; for one whole year, to improve one's own relig- 
ious character, would lead to palpable results. A year's 
culture would lead to great spiritual development. It is 
impossible that one should keep trying, for a whole year, to 
improve and increase his own graces, without making some 
advance ; not so much, perhaps, as he would like, but enough 
for him to realize it himself; and, at any rate, enough to be 
visible to others. Have you made this advance? Do those 
who know you see that you are a better man than you were 
a year ago ? If not, if indeed you have lost a whole year's 
growth in grace, who can tell the magnitude of that loss ? It 
may be that you have declined, and that you are a worse 
man than you were a year ago. If so, it would seem that 
despair is not far off. 

But notwithstanding our enormous losses, let us not yet 



364 The Old Theology. 

give way to despair ; it may be that the mercy of God has 
provided some help for us. 

Is there any way to get back the opportunities lost ? None 
whatever. The record of the past is made up, and the book 
is closed and sealed, and no man can open it. God will open 
it at the last day, and then that record we shall face. But 
opportunities once lost are lost forever. There is no setting 
back of the sun on the dial, no rolling back of the years, so 
that we can begin where we were long ago, and traverse the 
path again. 

Yet the apostle, speaking by the Spirit, exhorts us to re- 
deem the time, that is, as I understand him, to buy up future 
opportunities; and what he means, I suppose, is simply to 
encourage renewed consecration. Not that the past can be 
recovered, but that its failures should stimulate us to double 
diligence in the future. Of course every moment of our lives 
we are under supreme obligations to God ; and we have no 
power to fill up the measure of that moment, and no surplus 
power which will run over the measure of the present 
moment, and run back and fill up the empty moments of 
the past. Yet if this could be done, it ought to be done. 
The willing mind is what is called for ; the earnest heart is 
demanded. Profound regret should possess our souls in view 
of our past defalcations. No such regret can be genuine 
without increase of diligence, and vast increase. The man 
who says he is sorry, but who continues as indifferent and 
negligent as before, is not sorry ; and to look at all these lost 
opportunities without sorrow is to double the loss ; and to 
continue neglectful is to increase the loss thus doubled. But 
he who, struck through with shame and grief in view of past 
shortcomings, throws his soul with enthusiasm into the duties 
of the present and the future, shows, at least, that he would 
buy back what he has lost if he could. On this frame of 
mind the blessing of God may be expected ; while that oppo- 



New Year's Sermon. 365 

site frame, which says, " The past is gone and I cannot help 
it," indicates a disposition, rather let me say, a determination, 
to repeat in the future the history of the past, to increase 
guilt, and to intensify it ; and the leadings of this way are to 
everlasting destruction. 

At the beginuing of a new year, Time takes a new 
departure, and so should we. The occurrence of such an 
epoch should arouse our attention and cause us to stop for 
awhile, and consider 'where we are, and what we are, and 
what we are coiping to. Thoughtless, heedless, reckless, 
must he be who does not pause between the years to look 
back on the course over which he has come, and forward to 
that over which he must pass. To the young, the years 
before them may seem to be many, but they may be very 
few, they must be few even at best. Some of this assembly 
in all probability have entered on their last year, and will 
never see the dawn of another New Year's Day. Certainly, 
the entrance on the last year will come at some time, if it 
has not come already. Our thoughts have been turned this 
morning to the past, and in our own history we have 
certainly seen much to regret. We can recover nothing ; but 
the future is in our own hands, and it will be what we make 
it. Shall we add another year of neglect to the years of 
neglect already gone? Surely no man can deliberately 
decide to do so wicked a thing as this. Perhaps almost 
every one who hears me will incline to make a resolve to do 
better — beginning at some time in the future, perhaps to- 
morrow. All such resolutions are worthless ; they are noth- 
ing but the snares of Satan, nothing but the temptations of 
the devil. They are spiritual opiates, the effect of which is 
to deaden the sensibilities and lull the conscience to sleep, 
while at the same time they enhance guilt, and, under cover 
of piety, are insults to the Majesty on high. Let us take 
one of them up and analyze it. It is virtually an address of 

2F2 



366 The Old Theology. 

the heart to God. Its language is this : " O God, I know 
that I have sinned ; I know that I ought to abandon my 
evil ways ; but I love sin ; I love it too well to give it up 
now. I know that it is hateful to thee ; but it is sweet to 
me. I dare not continue in it always, for I am afraid of the 
consequences; but I will trespass on thy forbearance, and 
risk thy vengeance one more day, and to-morrow I will try to 
lead a new life." This is a literal translation of every 
resolution made to take effect in the future. It is little short 
of blasphemy ; and yet, strange to say, its effect is to quiet a 
man's fears, and to make him satisfied with himself. I be- 
seech you therefore, ray friends, make no resolutions looking 
to the future, unless they are to begin to take effect now. 

Especially do I address this appeal to those who are not 
at peace with God, and who have been hardening their 
hearts by procrastination and in other ways during the whole 
year just past, and indeed through all the previous years. 
" To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." 
If you begin the year with hardening, you will be likely to 
close it with hardening; and a whole year's hardening, 
in addition to what you have already done, may make your 
case forever hopeless. Certain it is that on next New Year's 
Day, if you live to see it, you will be in far worse condition 
than ^ou are this day. Every year that passes by, your 
guilt will accumulate more and more, and your prospect of 
release from it will be less and less ; a perpetual crescendo on 
the one hand and a perpetual diminuendo on the other, and 
thus you and eternal life will be forever farther and farther 
apart. I pray you therefore that this day you turn your 
faces Zion-ward, and never look back. Cross not the thresh- 
old of this house without saying in your heart, "I am 
Christ's and he is mine, ray Saviour and ray Lawgiver, on 
whose blood I rely, and whose will shall be the law of 
my life." 



New Year's Sermon. 367 

To those called to be saints, but who are unworthy of their 
calling, as every one of you is, I have to say this : Brethren, 
I beseech you, form no resolutions ; have nothing to do with 
them ; they are the delusions of the devil, unless they are to be- 
gin to take effect this very day. Do not, I pray you, do not 
insult your Maker by saying such a word as to-morrow to him. 
Go straight home, and as soon as you get there, do something 
which will inaugurate a new life. Take the word of God in 
your hand, and go to your closet ; and there on your knees 
confess, and thank God that you are alive, which you do not 
deserve to be ; and cry mightily for help to walk in the right 
way for the future. When you leave your closet, let the 
unction of the place abide with your spirit through the rest 
of the day ; and when to-morrow comes, if it ever should with 
you, begin at once to do something for the salvation of sin- 
ners. If you can do nothing else for them, pray for them ; 
pray for them by name ; and I think you will not be long 
doing this, before you can find something else to do for them. 
Begin at once to do something for the relief of the needy. 
.Just remember that the Christian religion, with its practical 
benevolence left out, is no religion. Surely you can spend a 
part of your life in doing w'hat Christ was doing during the 
whole of his. He went about doing^ good. Imitate his 
example, and when you are doing this, you may be sure that 
you are doing right. If you know of no objects of charity, 
hand your bounty to me, and I will engage to see that it is 
properly dispensed. Put no confidence, I beg you, in your 
prayers ; do not deceive yourself with the thought that any 
prayer you ever made, or ever wall make, can reach the ear 
of God, unless it is accompanied with the spirit of alms- 
giving ; and remember that what claims to be the spirit of 
almsgiving, which does not manifest itself in actual giving, 
on proper occasion, is a lying spirit. 

Begin anew to apply the principles of the gospel to the 



368 The Old Theology. 

smaller things, to the smallest things of life. Let the spirit 
of Jesus so imbue you that it will shine forth through your 
whole life. Let meekness, patience, forbearance, gentleness, 
kindness, sympathy, courtesy, and captivating cheeriness, so 
mark your conduct that wherever you go there will be glad- 
ness. Embody the gospel in your life, so that as you go, you 
preach. Let those who live in the house with you see that 
there is a change in you ; and remember that, for the most 
part, changes which cannot be seen do not exist. Begin a 
new church life. You need not wait till Wednesday. Begin 
to-day. Pray for the peace and prosperity of your church ; 
pray for sound doctrine, and sound discipline, and sound 
practice ; pray for your pastor, and for your brethren, and 
for the blessing of God on the efforts that are here made for 
the furtherance of his cause ; and on Wednesday night come 
and lay your heart alongside of mine, and by the hearts of 
your brethren, and let us unite our prayers all in one. Begin 
at once, begin as soon as you get home, to cultivate your own 
graces, by using the means of grace ; prayer and diligent 
search of the Scriptures, and doing the things therein com-, 
manded, will make a new man of you ; so that if you could 
now see yourself as you will be even after one year of such 
self- treatment as this, you w^ould not know yourself. 

It is the duty of the whole church and of every member 
of it to do all this. Suppose all were to do it, what a grand 
uplifting there would be of the plane on which we all stand ! 
What times of rejoicing we should have ! What a happy 
people we should be ! How the rich blessing of Heaven 
would gush out upon us ! We should have no room to 
receive it, and it would run over, and spread over the whole 
city ; nay, I know not that the continent would hold it, and 
it might envelop the world. And whether so or not, the 
event would project itself grandly into eternity. 

Some sober thinker may check me here, and say, " Oh, 



New Yeae's Sermon. 369 

yes, it is true that if all would redeem the time as best they 
could, the results would be indeed magnificent ; but all will 
not do this ; perhaps not one tenth part of them ; and the 
millenial glory you have described we shall never see. What 
shall I do?" Do just what you would do if it all depended 
on youi'self ! " But," he may reply, " when I have done my 
best, I shall still be an unprofitable servant. I know my 
weakness ; I know that I shall not fill the measure of future 
duty, much less can I atone by extra merit for the past ; the 
opportunities that I have lost are lost, and I can never buy 
them back, and I am forever bankrupt before God." 

Be of good courage, brother. If we cannot buy the past 
back to us, there is a power that can buy us away from it, and 
we can at least buy up the future. If we should do all that 
I have said we ought to do, it would be only as matter of duty 
towards God, and towards man, and towards our own souls. 
If it all were done, we should not depend on it for our hopes 
of eternal life. A man is justified by faith, good brother 
without the deeds of the law. Christ has redeemed us from 
the curse of the law. It is not on what we do, but on what 
he did, that we put our reliance. We do not build on human 
works, for they are but a sandy foundation, and great would 
be the fall of anything built on it. We build on an Eternal 
Rock. We live and die, saying, and singing : 

My hope is built on notliiiig less 
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness. 
On Christ the solid rock I stand ; 
All other ground is sinking sand. 

" Ah ! " says one, " that is the doctrine I love to hear ; that 
is the true gospel ; trust in Christ and do nothing." Stop, 
my friend, we have not so learned Christ. Trusting in Christ 
and doing nothing, is like trusting in Providence, and doing 
nothing. Trust in Christ, and do what you can. The trust 
is for your salvation ; and nothing but trust has anything to 



370 The Old Theology. 

do with it. Doing what you can, is for your duty, and for 
obedience, and for the glory of God, and for the good of your 
fellow-men, and for your own growth in grace. The doing is 
the evidence of your trusting ; and where there is no doing 
there is no trusting, loud assertions to the contrary notwith- 
standing. Blessed is he, and he only, who combines a life of 
obedience with a life of trust. 

The opportunities of the past are lost, many of them lost 
and gone forever. We cannot buy them back. But Christ 
can buy us away from the responsibility of the loss. The 
thought should inspire us with loving gratitude and incite us 
to newness of life; and the newness of the year should give 
force to the holy impulse. Let us then begin the year, 
redeeming the time, and thanking God that Christ has 
redeemed us. 



SERMON XXII. 

DEDICATION SERMON.^ 

"Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever. "—Psalm 
xciii. 5. 

WITHOUT spending a moment's time in introductory 
remark, let us proceed at once to consider what is 
becoming to the house of the Lord. The text says : '^Holiness 
becometh thine house, O Lord ! forever." So far as this 
text teaches duty, how is that duty to be discharged? 

1. In the first place, the house ought never to be used for 
any other purpose than for the worship of Almighty God. 
There are a great many things which it is proper to do in 
other places, but which it is not proper to do here. Here 
everything is improper except worship. I am sorry to be 
obliged to confess that a great many of our people have 
used their churches for other purposes ; but whenever they 
have done so, they have done wrong. Churches have been 
used for school-houses, for public addresses of various kinds, 
such as literary lectures, and even for political speeches. 
All these things are a wicked misuse of the house of God. 
There is a place for everything; but this is no place for 
anything but worship. 

It is a misfortune that a church has to be used even for 
Sunday-school purposes ; because, although the Sunday-school 
is an efiicient means of spreading a knowledge of gospel 
truth, and has been the means, I doubt not, of saving many 
a soul from death, and thus of glorifying God and his Son 

^Preached for a Negro Church, near Athens, Georgia, March 
31, 1878. 

371 



372 The Old Theology. 

Jesus Christ, yet the machinery of a Sunday-school is some- 
what like a day-school in its character; there must neces- 
sarily be more or less of conversation, and a disturbance of 
that quiet and solemnity, which ought to be observed in a 
place like this. Still, work, that is, this kind of work, is 
worship ; and in cases where it is impossible to do it any- 
where else, it may be justifiable to use a church for this 
purpose. But I have always regretted this necessity; and 
should enjoy worship more highly, if I knew that the house 
were used for no other purpose — no, not even for a Sunday- 
school. Even a church conference ought to be held in 
another place, if possible ; and many of the wealthy churches 
have separate rooms for that purpose. True, the holding of a 
conference is the Lord's work, and in a certain sense it may 
be called worship ; but it is indirect worship, and frequently 
becomes somewhat business-like in its character; and not a 
word ought ever to be spoken in this house, except as a part 
of divine service. When it is impossible to have more than 
one room, as I suppose is the case with you, it is a necessity 
to use the room you have for purposes of conference ; but I 
regret the necessity. In any case when it is not a necessity, 
I protest against the use of this house for any other purpose 
than the direct worship of the Almighty. 

On one occasion in our Saviour's life he went to the 
Temple, and found people there selling doves and changing 
money ; and he drove them out of the house with a whip of 
small cords. Now, the selling of doves was a lawful, proper, 
and honorable business, and so was the changing of money. 
At that time, doves were ofiered in sacrifice, and this offering 
was part and parcel of the worship. In offering these doves 
the people were obeying the commandments of the Lord 
himself. It was not convenient for everybody to raise his 
own doves or to catch wild ones; so some persons made a 
business of providing doves for sale, and a very proper 



Dedication Sermon, 373 

business it was, as already remarked. Indeed it was a 
necessary business ; for many persons, if they could not buy 
doves, could not get them at all ; and so these persons would 
have been excluded from worship altogether. Hence the 
business of selling doves was necessary. Still, proper as it 
was, it ought not to have been done in the Lord's house ; 
and our Saviour drove out the men with a whip. So with 
the money changers ; their business was proper and neces- 
sary. People came up to the Temple at Jerusalem from all 
parts of the world, and they brought their money with them ; 
and there were many different kinds of money, much of 
which would not pass in Jerusalem, although it was good 
where it came from ; and it was all that the people had. 
JSTow there were some men who made a business of buying up 
this uncurrent money and exchanging it for current money 
The strangers who came to Jerusalem were very glad to find 
this convenient way of exchanging money that would not 
pass, for such as they could use ; and of course the money 
changers, or brokers, as we call them, charged them a little 
profit on the exchange, and so both parties were benefited ; 
and if it had not been for this, the strangers would have had 
no money that they could use, and so they could have 
purchased no doves, and hence they could have offered no 
sacrifices, and would thus have been practically excluded 
from worship altogether ; and moreover they would have had 
no way to pay their expenses of living and of travel. So 
the business of money changers was not only honorable, but 
necessary. Yet it was not necessary that this business should 
have been done in the house of the Lord ; and hence our 
Saviour threw down the tables on which they kept their 
money and drove out the men with a whip. Let us learn 
from this how jealous the Lord is of his house ; and let us be 
careful that we do nothing in this house which is unbecoming 
to the place where his Honor dwelleth. 

2G 



374 The Old Theology. 

Everything is unbecoming which is not immediately con- 
nected with worship, and everything is at least undesirable, 
except worship itself. As to using the house for any worldly 
business, or on any secular occasion, it is an outrage not to 
be thought of. "Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, 
forever." 

2. Another thing : No doctrine ought ever to be preached 
here except such as is found in the word of God. Holiness 
becomes his house, and no religious instruction is holy except 
that which God himself has communicated. False doctrine 
is the worst of all falsehoods, because it misleads people on 
the most important of all subjects ; and while falsehood is to 
be detested everywhere, it is peculiarly dreadful in the house 
of God. I suppose it is not often that any one would 
knowingly, and intentionally, proclaim false doctrine in the 
house of God ; still it is constantly done in ignorance. It 
ought not to be done at all. A man who pretends to have a 
message from God ought to be sure that he has his message 
right. " Thus saith the Lord," is a very different thing 
from " thus saith the preacher." It is a dreadful thing to 
teach for doctrines the commandments of men. Hence a 
man assumes an awful responsibility who stands up here to 
proclaim the word of the Lord, unless he is sure that he has 
the word of the Lord. Do not suppose either that any man 
speaks by inspiration. There was a time when men were 
inspired ; but that time is past. Christ did say to his apostles : 
" Take no thought how or what ye shall speak ; for it shall be 
given you in that same hour what ye shall speak." Matt. x. 19, 
But he has not said this to us. "All Scripture is given by 
inspiration of God " ; but all preaching is not. No preach- 
inof is inspired ; and no man knows anything of the way of 
life except so far as he has learned it from God's holy word. 
The Bible is our only source of religious knowledge ; and all 
men who pretend to speak by any other authority than this, 



Dedication Sermon. 375 

or who pretend to know anything except what they learn 
from this, are base impostors, and ought not to be listened to, 
nor allowed to speak. Every man ought to be very careful 
how he speaks, when he claims to be preaching the glorious 
gospel of the blessed God. How does he know that what 
he is preaching is the gospel ? Mere guess-work will not do. 
A man must be sure that he is right, and that every word 
that he says is sanctioned by the Holy Bible. How is he to 
know this ? Only by careful study, accompanied with a 
sincere desire to learn, and by prayer for divine guidance. 
A man's head and heart must both be in right condition, and 
he must apply himself with zeal, and even then he must 
watch himself, lest he be putting in some of his own notions, 
and calling them by the name of the word of God. 

3. Again : No practices ought to be engaged in here, 
except those which have the sanction of the divine word. 
The outward forms of worship are important. True, the real 
worship of God is in the heart ; and no mere formal worship, 
unaccompanied by the homage of the heart, ever did any 
good, though it may often have done harm. But while it is 
true that heart worship is the only real worship, yet it is 
important that the outward expression of that worship 
should assume proper forms. The second of the Ten Com- 
mandments forbids the use of images in the worship of God. 
God is not willing that he himself should be worshiped in 
that way — that is, by the use of images. This shows that 
the way in which God is to be worshiped is important, as 
well as the worship itself. Hence there ought to be no rites, 
and no ceremonies, taught here as binding on the worshiper, 
except such as are distinctly required by the word of God. 
All human inventions, when palmed off upon the people as 
divine requirements, are an outrage upon both God and 
man. No matter how beautiful, or how impressive, a cere- 
mony may be, if it is not instituted of God, it is binding 



376 The Old Theology. 

on nobody. But it may be said : " Suppose we introduce 
some ceremonies in our worship, not claiming for them that 
they are divine, or that they are obligatory, but simply that 
they are convenient and agreeable." Even here we are 
treading on dangerous ground. It is best that divine service 
should be as simple as possible. If our worshiping is done 
decently and in order, the fewer ceremonies we have the 
better. All customs and all observances, except in so far as 
they look to habitual good order, are to be avoided. 

4. This leads me to comment on the expression just used, 
" decently and in order." This expression is used in 1 Cor. 
xiv. 40. The apostle, in that place, is giving instructions as 
to proper behavior when the people of God come together in 
his house. It seems that even in the apostolic churches 
there had crept in some disorder and confusion. Sometimes 
more than one would speak at once, and thus neither could 
be heard, and God was mocked rather than worshiped. In 
those days they spoke with tongues ; that is, they spoke in 
other languages besides their own, and they even availed 
themselves of the opportunity to show off this miraculous 
gift in such a way as to disturb public worship. So do men 
abuse the good gifts of God. What then, with some praying, 
and some singing, and some speaking with tongues, and 
several speaking at once, the confusion became disgraceful, 
and the apostle rebukes it. He says, that a stranger coming 
in would think that they were mad — that is, that they were 
crazy. And I have myself seen churches in such disorder 
that people and preachers appeared to be all crazy together. 
If the apostle had seen what I have seen, I doubt not that 
he would have said, as he did say to the Corinthians, '' God 
is not the author of confusion, but of peace." Doubtless 
he would have told them that all things must be done 
^'decently," implying that what they were doing was in- 
ddecent ; and that all things must be done " in order," im- 



Dedication Sermon. 377 

plying that they were all out of order. Perfect quiet ought 
to prevail in the house of God at all times. Singing and 
praying aloud ought never to be done at the same time; 
because the praying cannot be heard for the singing, and the 
singing cannot be heard for the praying. Thus each de- 
stroys the other. No man has a right to interrupt public 
prayer ; but if he sings aloud while some one else is praying 
aloud, he interrupts the prayer, and is thus disturbing public 
worship. It is just as improper to disturb public worship by 
untimely singing and praying as it is to disturb it in any 
other way. Oftentimes have I seen one man preaching ; and 
at the same time two or three more exhorting ; while others 
were praying; and others singing; and others again shouting 
and screaming and yelling; and yet others clapping their 
hands ; and some jumping up and down ; and some, perhaps, 
rolling on the floor. 

My brethren! I beseech you not to do such things. 
There is no genuineness in such so-called worship as this. It 
is all a mockery. I beseech you do not show off this miser- 
able folly to the world, and call it the religion of Jesus. It 
is nothing but barbarism. The Apostle Paul virtually calls 
it barbarism, when he says, " If I know not the meaning of 
the voice, I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian, and 
he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me." 1 Cor. xiv. 
11. It is a slander upon the New Testament to pretend 
that the scandalous disorder seen in some churches is a ser- 
vice required by that Book. Let heathen and idolaters do 
these things, and act like madmen, sometimes turning night 
into day, and disturbing the peace of a whole neighborhood ; 
but let us, who are civilized people, and Christian people, 
professing the religion of Jesus, and worshipers of Almighty 
God, — let us worship in the beauty of holiness, in all reverence, 
meekly, devoutly, decently, and in order. So shall we render 
an acceptable service to God. Noise and confusion are not 

2G2 



378 The Old Theology. 

becoming to the house of God ; but " Holiness becometh thine 
house, O Lord, forever." 

5. Another most important point is this : That while 
holiness becomes the house of God, and all the forms of 
public worship, it is even more important, if such a thing 
could be possible, that holiness should pervade the private 
lives of the people of God. It is the people who constitute 
the church, and not the building. The true church is not 
built of stone or wood or brick. God's real temple is a 
spiritual temple. " Know ye not," says the apostle, " that ye 
are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth 
in you?" 1 Cor. iii. 16. And again he says, ''Ye are of the 
household of God ; and are built upon the foundation of the 
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief 
corner stone ; in whom all the building fitly framed to- 
gether groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord ; in whom 
ye also are builded together for an habitation of God, 
through the Spirit." Eph. ii. 19-22. 

Remember, then, my brethren, two things : 1. The tem- 
ple of God is holy; 2. this temple "ye are." 1 Cor. iii. 17. 
Therefore the membership is to be kept pure. 

No immoral practice is to be tolerated. No disorderly 
life is to pass without rebuke. The lavv of God is the law of 
the church, and of all its members. Any one who violates 
that law should be subjected to discipline. If one even 
appears to violate that law, his case should be inquired into. 
I do not mean that there should be detectives and spies, or 
unkind and unreasonable criticism, or a hasty disposition to 
find fault. Above all, would I caution you against making 
a cloak of your zeal for the purity of the church, to cover an 
opportunity for indulging private malice; subjecting a man 
to church discipline, not because you love the church, but 
because you hate him, or because he is your antagonist or 
your rival. I beseech you, brethren, avoid this crying sin. 



Dedication Seemon. 379 

On the other hand, be not so charitable as to allow im- 
proper conduct to pass unnoticed. Watch over each other 
jealously; but let your jealousy be for the Lord's house, and 
not for yourselves. Do it in all kindness, in all meekness, in 
all gentleness, in all forbearance, remembering that you also 
may be tempted. Preserve the truth, but let it be done in 
love. Maintain a godly discipline, but let it be done with 
the holy charity of the New Testament. In the spirit of 
brotherly love, in the spirit of Jesus, labor with the erring, 
and exhaust all gospel means to reclaim backsliders ; but in 
the last resort, remember that no charity is charity which 
allows the holiness of God's house to be dishonored. Set 
your face like a flint against all that is wrong ; and if a 
brother, in spite of all remonstrance and all entreaty, will 
persist in evil, turn him out. Have no fellowship with him. 
No matter how high his position may be, or how great his 
influence is, turn him out! The more prominent he is, the 
more important it is that he should be put down, if his 
conduct brino;s rebuke on the cause of Christ. *' If the lio-ht 
that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness! " The 
gospel is no respecter of persons. It knows nothing of rank. 
The high and the low, the rich and the poor, are all alike in 
the church. What is law for one, is law for all. And who- 
ever, by a life inconsistent with the Christian profession, 
defiles God's spiritual temple, let him be to you as a heathen 
man and a publican. Cut him ofi* instantly from your fel- 
lowship. Do not suppose, because one of your members is 
very active, or very prominent and influential, that you can- 
not afibrd to lose him. You can afford to lose him a great 
deal better than you can afford to keep him, if he is not in 
the right path. A man whose life is a discredit to the church 
is a mill-stone around your necks, and the bigger the man, 
the bigger the mill-stone. No church can afford to carry 
such a dead weight. Cut him offj and, instead of sinking. 



380 The Old Theology. . 

you will rise when you are cut loose from this weight that 
drags you down. " Yes," one may say, " but he is a man of 
such power that we cannot get along without him." I tell 
you, you can get along without him. The truth is, you can- 
not get along with him. Remember that holiness becomes 
the house of the Lord, and especially his spiritual house. 

6. I am reminded here to say, that if it is important that 
you should deal promptly but kindly with those who are 
already in your membership, it is quite as important that 
you should be careful whom you take in. No man ought to 
be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ unless he is 
indeed and in truth a new creature, — that is, one who is born 
again by the power of the Holy Ghost. This is the very 
theory on which a Baptist Church is founded. The very 
moment this theory is intentionally violated, the church ceases 
to be Baptist, if it does not cease to be a church of Christ at all. 
But without discussing this last point, I proceed to say, that 
perhaps the greatest injury that can be inflicted on a man is 
to baptize him, if he is not converted. It puts him in a false 
position ; it leads him to believe that he is what he is not ; it 
is stupefying medicine to his conscience ; it puts him in such 
a position that preaching which is addressed to unconverted 
sinners does not reach him, and that which is adapted to 
saints is not suited to him ; so it really puts him out of reach 
altogether. Of course, I do not mean to say that such a man 
cannot be saved ; but I do say that there is far less hope of 
him than there is of an unconverted sinner, who has not 
been deceived as to his true condition. So be careful whom 
you take into the church, for the sake of souls ; and beware 
lest in your over-zeal for men you do them deadly harm, 
instead of doing them good. 

Again: Be careful whom you receive into the church, 
because, the greatest injury you can inflict on a church is to 
fill it with unconverted people. It is like filling a camp 



Dedication Sermon. 381 

with spies and with soldiers from a hostile army ; it is like 
filling a man's veins with poison instead of blood. The 
policy of such a church is like suicide ; and not only so, but 
of suicide in its most horrible form. 

Again : Be careful whom you receive into the church, 
because the greatest injury you can inflict on the outside 
world of unconverted sinners is to fill the church with those 
who, like themselves, are unconverted. The most effective 
preaching is not that which comes from the pulpit : it is that 
which comes from the lives of those who claim to be the 
people of God. Ye are living epistles, " known and read of 
all men." The world judges of the church by the conduct 
of its members ; and nothing does the cause of Christ so 
much harm as for it to be falsely represented. When you 
receive an unconverted member, you take one of the chil- 
dren of darkness, and hold him up to the world as a sample 
of the children of light. Of course, this is a libel on the 
gospel ; of course, men Avill say, " If that is a specimen of 
what the gospel can do, we will have none of it." A laundry 
Avoman would not exhibit to the public a piece of soiled and 
unwashed linen as a specimen of what she could do.i Nor 
ought the church to show to the world an unconverted man 
as a specimen of one who has experienced " the washing of 
regeneration." 

7. Let me caution you, my brethren, against a mistake 
which is common in these latter days. People judge of the 
prosperity of a church by its mere increase of numbers. If I 
ask, "Is such a church prosperous?" the answer will be, " Oh 
yes! they have just received a hundred members by bap- 
tism." Now when I receive such an answer as this, I always 
feel alarmed. I ask myself, '' How many of that hundred 
are converted ? " If one of them is unconverted, I am not 

1 The audience was composed, very largely, of laundresses and 
their families. 



382 The Old Theology. 

sure but that it would be better for the ninety-nine to stay 
out, than for the hundred to come in. But I do not say this, 
and will not say it ; for I do not know. But this I do know, 
that quality is more important than quantity. Better have a 
few members all converted, than to have many, if they are 
to be a mixed multitude of good and bad all mingled to- 
gether. 

I have often thought that perhaps the best way to judge 
of the prosperity of a church is not by the number they take 
in, but by the number they turn out. I will not say this ; 
but I do say, that the best way to judge of a church is not 
merely by its numbers, but by its character. The question is, 
not how many members have they ? but what kind of mem- 
bers are they ? If they are all men of steady habits ; of good 
conduct, of pure life ; if they are all men of prayer ; all 
zealous for the salvation of souls, and for the glory of God ; 
in short, if they are all good, conscientious, faithful. Christian 
men, walking in the way of the Lord, and in the footsteps of 
their Divine Master — ^then, no matter how small their num- 
bers may be, theirs is surely a prosperous church. True 
prosperity consists in pure piety, not in mere numbers. 
Growth in grace is to be desired. Growth in size is compara- 
tively a small matter. But my honest belief is, that such a 
church as I have described, a church full of good men 
unmixed with bad, would actually grow faster in numbers, 
than any other kind of church. A few good seed will bring 
a larger crop than a large quantity of bad seed. 

But finally, my brethren, let me say to you that, while it 
is the duty of all to keep the church pure, it is the first duty 
of each one to keep himself pure. You are much more 
responsible for yourself than you are for other people. 
Other people's conduct is, to a great extent, beyond your 
control ; but your own conduct is just what you make it. I 
have said that you ought to exercise a kind but faithful 



Dedication Sermon. 383 

watch-care over one another; bat above all things let each 
one watch himself. 

Now, in order that you may better remember what I have 
said, I will repeat the substance of it. Holiness becometh 
the house of the Lord. This building, made with hands, 
should be kept holy. It should be used for none but holy 
purposes. The doctrines taught therein should be drawn 
from the holy of holies, that is, from the word of God. The 
ordinances administered here should be of divine appoint- 
ment, and therefore holy : all customs, or ceremonies, other 
than these, have no authority, and are often mischievous, and 
always dangerous. The conduct of all your service ought 
to be decent, orderly, quiet, and reverent, in order to be in 
keeping with the holiness which becometh the house of the 
Lord. The spiritual house not made with hands should be 
kept holy. Evil doers should be cast out, and those that 
remain should be kept under affectionate and faithful and 
mutual guardianship. Nothing unclean should be admitted. 
The regenerate alone are proper candidates for admission 
into the Church of Jesus Christ. Holiness becomes the house 
of the Lord, and therefore it is the farthest possible remove 
from being a cage of unclean birds. A few true hearted, 
genuine Christiau men banded together are a great moral 
power. It is a frightful mistake to suppose that their 
strength can be increased by adding to their number from 
the ranks of the unconverted. 

And, finally, the best way to keep the church in order, is 
for each one to keep himself in order. Divide out the labor. 
No man can carry the whole church. Let each one take his 
share ; and each one's share is himself. If holiness becomes 
the house of the Lord, remember that above all it becomes 
the hearts of his people. And if not present there, all is lost. 

I pray God, my brethren, that you may be able to render 
an acceptable service to him in this humble temple reared 



384 The Old Theology. 

with hands, which this day we dedicate to him, and that in 
due time, you, and I, and all the Israel of God, may be 
permitted to render a more perfect service in his glorious 
temple in an eternal world. 



SERMON XXIII. 
THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 
" O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." — Psalm xcvi. 9. 

THE occasion which has called us together is of complex 
character. It is the Lord's Day, aud requires of us 
that we should worship him in his holy temple, and render 
him that homage of the heart which is justly his due. It is 
furthermore the religious anniversary of an Institution of 
Learning, and therefore requires that so far as literary enter- 
tainment and instruction can be properly c(|mbined with 
services of higher and holier nature, it should be done. And 
as the Institution in whose interest we have convened is 
consecrated to female culture, it would seem to be proper that 
what is said should be adapted especially to the female 
mind, or at least suggested by the idiosyncrasies of female 
character. 

Our text, it is thought, presents the truth in this unusual 
and felicitous combination. " O worship the Lord ! " What 
could be more appropriate on this beautiful morning, this 
calm and tranquil and sacred day of the Lord ? Before a 
great congregation like this, what so befitting as the exhorta- 
tion of the Psalmist in the text, " O worship the Lord ! " 
Yea, "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord." 
Let us rejoice that we are permitted to assemble in the house 
of God, and let the multitude, with the voice of joy and 
praise, keep holy day. 

But the text not only enjoins worship, but a peculiar hmd 
of worship ; it speaks of the beauty of holiness, and requires 
worship clad in that glorious robe. This quality of holiness 

2H 385 



386 The Old Theology. 

• — its beauty — is one which cannot be discussed without some 
metaphysical inquiry, nor appreciated without some degree 
of aesthetic culture ; and hence if it be proper ever to preach 
from this text, it would seem to be so on an occasion like 
this, which is not only religious, but literary. Taking another 
aspect of the case, whenever we think of the person or char- 
acter of woman, we are led by a most natural law of associa- 
tion, to think of beauty ; or if we would win the attention or 
the sympathies of woman, we present to her contemplation 
that which her instincts lead her to love — beauty. So then 
on this day, consecrated to the Lord, consecrated also to the 
genius of learning, and consecrated to the cause of female 
culture, it is appropriate to reproduce the exhortation of tlie 
Psalmist, " O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." 
The threefold character of the occasion, in itself a unit, is 
happily met by the text, whose threefold powers are so har- 
moniously blended by the sweet singer of Israel. No chord 
of David's harp ever yielded a strain more appropriate to an 
occasion like this — a strain whose rich music is not merely 
melody, but harmony of three parts, all gushing out together 
from a single touch of the royal artist's finger on the sacred 
lyre. In our atmosphere, the harp would not yield so rich a 
response ; but when David sat and sang, the Divine Spirit 
breathed, and as the string quivered, the holy afflatus seizing 
its vibrations, mingled them with infinite loveliness, and 
superhuman energy, and has thus brought them down through 
three thousand years to our ears, and will enliven with them 
the devotions of the saints till the end of time. Here we see 
David at one view in three characters ; not only as the de- 
vout worshiper of God, but as the philosopher, and as the 
poot. If our emotions are stirred by an appeal combining so 
many elements of power, we are but under the same impulse 
which moved the inspired penman. No less than three times 
is this text recorded in the sacred oracles. In the First Book 



The Beauty of Holiness. 387 

of Chronicles, sixteenth chapter, we read, "Worship the Lord 
in the beauty of holiness." In the Twenty -ninth Psalm, we 
read again : " Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." 
And here again in the Ninety-sixth Psalm, we read the same, 
with this difference only, that, in this last instance, the wrapt 
Psalmist, warmed with his theme, and remembering perhaps 
that he was addressing millions unborn, prefixes the ejacula- 
tion, and in the fullness of his soul exclaims, O ! " O worship 
the Lord in the beautv of holiness." 

But, subduing emotion, let us endeavor calmly to inquire, 
What is the duty here enjoined ? It will be observed that this 
is an exhortation, not merely to worship God, but to dis- 
charge that duty in a particular manner — in the beauty of 
holiness. If the Psalmist had only said, " Worship the Lord," 
he would have meant something ; but when he adds, " in the 
beauty of holiness," he must mean something more. It 
becomes us then to inquire what more does he mean ; what is 
the beauty of holiness, and in what does it consist ? 

It has been held by one class of thinkers, that this, and 
all kindred expressions, are figurative. With them, beauty 
exists only in physical objects, and is perceived only in 
certain modes, or manifestations of matter; and as the 
emotions excited by the perception of these manifestations 
are similar to, or identical with, some of the emotions which 
flow from moral sources, the same name has been applied to 
each. According to this objective, or sensuous, theory, beauty 
is found only in certain forms and colors, and other objects 
of sense ; consequently, when the term beauty is applied to 
objects that exist only in the ideal world, it is used metaphor- 
ically. Thus, to illustrate, the taste of an apple affects us 
agreeably, and we call it sweet. Certain sounds also affect 
us agreeably, and by a figure of speech we say that they are 
sweet. Carrying the figure still further, we speak of a sweet 
sentiment, a sweet poem, or a sweet disposition. Just so, the 



388 The Old Theology. 

term beauty, on this theory, is applicable originally, and 
strictly, only to certain qualities in objects of sense ; and is 
tropically transferred to another use, whenever we speak 
of beauty in thought, sentiment, or morals. 

To this theory I do not agree. Another school of meta- 
physicians, founded thousands of years ago by Plato, but 
whose best exponent in modern times on this point, at least, is 
Cousin, teaches a deeper and better philosophy ; w^hich shows 
that the idea of beauty is transferred, not from the actual to 
the ideal, but from the ideal to the actual ; that it exists, not 
without us, but within us ; that it consists, not in manifestations 
of matter, but in manifestations of mind. According to this 
wiser system, the term beauty is applicable literally, origi- 
nally, and strictly, only to things invisible, intangible, and 
ideal ; and it is used metaphorically when applied to any 
thing else. In the case of the term sweet, as applied to a 
sentiment, we illustrate the moral by the sensuous ; but in the 
term beauty, as applied to a rose, for example, we illustrate 
the sensuous by the moral. 

Perhaps I can better develop the idea of the distinguished 
metaphysician whose theory has suggested this discourse by 
letting him speak for himself. Says he : " The. inw^ard alone 
is beautiful ; there is no beauty except that which is in- 
visible. Physical beauty, or the beauty of form and motion, 
is only the reflection of that moral and intellectual beauty 
which we may embrace under the term spiritual or unnatural 
beauty. Thus all beauty resolves itself into spiritual beauty. 
The real beauty of the Apollo w^as that un corporeal beauty 
which shone through its veil. A man's face is effulgent 
with signs of morality, and therefore of beauty"; and, con- 
tinues the philosopher, "the face of nature is expressive, 
like the face of a man." Thus much from Cousin himself. 
Expressing now the same thoughts in my own language, I 
would say that the beauty of the human face consists in the 



The Beauty of Holiness. 389 

shining forth through it of internal qualities pertaining to 
the spirit that inhabits it. So also the beauty of nature 
consists in the expression by it of certain qualities existing in 
hira who is its Author ; or who, without using the terms in a 
pantheistic sense, may be called the Soul of nature. Thus 
a rose is beautiful, not in itself, but only as it manifests 
certain sensibilities in him who fashioned it. That which we 
call its beauty is not really beauty, but is only an expression 
of beauty — an imperfect representation of certain qualities 
in the character of God — the embodiment of one of his own 
conceptions; and falling short of the reality, in the same 
degree that matter is inferior to mind — to that highest 
condition of mind which exists in the Almighty. Thus the 
ideal of beauty is the only real. The actual, which we see, 
is only a means, or medium, through which it faintly ex- 
hibits itself Beauty is a revelation. It is a glimmering 
disclosure to us, through material objects, of the spirit- 
splendors of the all-creating Power. Blessed are the pure in 
heart, for even in this life, before they reach the holy place, 
in the face of nature, they see God. In the bow, in the 
cloud, in the storm, in the calm, in the brook, in the flood, 
in wreathing smoke, in solid rocks, in the stately forest, in 
the drooping flower, in bud and in blossom, in the birds of 
the air, in the fish of the sea, in the beasts of the field, in 
the Godlike form of man, in microscopic wonders, no less 
than in the starry heavens, — in all, in all, they see God. 
Every ray of beauty is but the reflection of gleams of glory 
from the light of his countenance. The Spirit of God 
flashes from the cloud. The Spirit of God is in the blush 
of the rose, it sparkles in the dew drop, it broods over the 
landscape, it fills the earth, the air, the sea, the sky. God is 
invisible, yet through matter we see Spirit. 

It might have been asked a few moments ago, though 
scarcely now, " Of what use are these metaphysical inquiries? 

2H2 



390 The Old Theology. 

What matters it to us sinful creatures whether the objective 
or the subjective theory of beauty be true? Surely all this is 
not very evangelical ! " T reply, that whatever leads us to 
God is evangelical ; and to teach a doctrine that he is in 
everything, that he reveals himself to us in everything, and 
that he can be seen in everything, is surely to bring us into 
closer communion with him. " Nearer to thee, nearer, my 
God, to thee ! " I love that philosophy which brings me 
nearer to thee ! I reply, further, that the theory which I 
have advanced, even though it be borrowed from the heathen 
Plato, is at least good philosophy ; and wherever we find a 
true philosophy, there we find a foundation for a true 
religion. 

In the present case, from what has been said, we deduce 
this important thought, that when David speaks of the beauty 
of holiness, he uses no figure of speech, but in literal terms 
enjoins a duty. If philosophy has supplied us with a correct 
exegesis, which we could not have reached without its aid, 
and has explained a passage of Scripture which we could not 
otherwise have understood, let us thank God for the philos- 
ophy. But what now does David mean when he calls on us 
to worship God in the beauty of holiness ? He means that 
we should worship in such a manner as to exhibit, by the 
manner, qualities within ourselves which can be called beau- 
tiful. Thus we shall become objects of admiration to all 
pure and holy beings. As we kneel before God in prayer, or 
raise our voices in praise, a circle of invisible spectators may 
surround us, filled with emotions of the beautiful. They 
may gaze upon us in our devotions with rapture. As we 
stand around some glorious work of the sculptor's art, and 
behold with enthusiastic admiration in the life-like stone the 
beauty originating in the soul of the artist, which is expressed 
in the marble, so angels, with sublimer capacities for perceiv- 
ing and enjoying the beautiful, seeing the saint on his knees, 



The Beauty of Holixess. 391 

behold with ecstatic admiration the heavenly beauty shining 
through the fleshly veil. In squalid poverty, clothed with 
rags and wretchedness, in some far-off" hovel, abhorred by 
men and beasts, the child of God may lie, and be to mortal 
eyes an object of disgust ; but in all his misery, remembering 
the preciousness of Christ, he says, " Thanks be to God for 
his unspeakable gift," and witnessing angels see beauty 
there that no language can describe and no mortal concep- 
tion appreciate. 

An assembly of devout men are convened in the sanc- 
tuary, on the Lord's Day, to worship God who is a Spirit, in 
spirit and in truth. A great congregation of invisible spirits 
fills the air, and the holy ones look down on the assembly 
with rapture. As we would look upon Eden, and feel that 
the sight of its beauties was too much for us, and be over- 
whelmed with excess of delightful emotion, so they look on 
this garden of delight spread out before them, with emotions 
such as none but angelic bosoms can feel, and there behold 
spirituality, which is beauty in its essence, blossoming out in 
acts of devotion, infinitely more lovely in this garden of the 
Lord than Eden's richest bloom. Says the Psalmist, '"' Out 
of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined." No 
wonder he called it the perfection of beauty ; and his senti- 
ment accords with our philosophy when he speaks of God 
shining through this earthly veil. The beauty is his; Zion 
is the mere expression of it. Li the earthly form we behold 
the efflorescence of the Divine Spirit. 

Nor, changing the view-point, is it going too far to say, 
that God himself admires the devotions of the saints, when 
conducted in the beauty of holiness, and loves to contemplate 
them. Here again. Scripture and philosophy teach the same 
lesson. Says the Psalmist, " So shall the king greatly desire 
thy beauty." Here the beauty of Zion is said to be an object 
of desire, an object of desire with the King, an object of his 



392 The Old Theology. 

great desire. This thought will strike us with more force, 
wheu we remember that, if there be beauty in us, it is he who 
has placed it there ; that if our spirits are pure, it is he who 
has made them so ; that the saints are in fact his handiwork ; 
or, in his own words, " we are his workmanship, created in 
Christ Jesus." Now if the happiness of God consists in part 
of the contemplation of his own perfections, must he not 
regard, with delightful complacency, the manifestation of 
those perfections in his works ? If he regarded with satisfac- 
tion the virgin world which his hands had made, and pro- 
nounced it good, with how much greater complacency must he 
regard that spiritual creation, made not by material changes, 
but by the blood of the atonement ! 

If we may descend from such conceptions to grosser 
things, imagine an artist to stand gazing on his master-piece 
for the first time after he had put upon it his last and finish- 
ing stroke. Think you not that his soul glows with admira- 
tion of that beauty which his work has developed ? Others 
may admire it too, but can they admire as he does ? Nay, 
none but he who produced could fully appreciate it. None 
but a mind capable of bringing it out could be capable of 
taking it in. The mere development of a muscle, or the 
turn of a finger, which untutored eyes would look upon with 
apathy, might manifest to the artist's finer perceptions beauty 
that would thrill every fibre of his soul with rapture. Thus, 
if at creation " the morning stars sang together, and all the 
sons of God shouted for joy," how much less was their joy, 
finite and superficial, than the serene but infinite delight of 
the Creator, whose boundless capacities were alone adequate 
to take in all the glory! So, too, if angels and glorified 
spirits admire true devotion, it is with that lower kind of 
admiration which men without genius feel in viewing the 
products 0/ genius. But when God admires the same object, 
he admires as the great Master-Artist who produced the 



The Beauty of Holiness. 393 

•work, and whose capacious mind is alone expansive enough 
to receive all the rays of beauty that it reflects. If, in our 
devotions, beauty be upon us, it is " the beauty of the Lord 
our God " that is " upon us." If the " meek " are " beau- 
tified "with salvation," it is the great Artist-Spirit who has 
infused into them the o-lowino: element. As it all came from 
him, so it is all reflected back to him ; while created beings 
stand off and admire, but not as he admires ; they admire as 
they can what they see, but they see not all. What induce- 
ments are these to true devotion ! In every such act we 
present an object of contemplation which fills superior beings 
witli delight, and which is an object of great desire to the 
Great King in whose sight the very heavens are unclean. 
How can we help exclaiming to ourselves, and to each 
other, " O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness ! " 

But it will naturally be asked, " How are we to attain to 
that spiritual estate which will enable us thus to worship ? " 
To answer this question intelligently, let us remember that 
beauty exists only in the invisible, and in its perfection only 
in God. So, if we would worship him in beauty, we must be 
like him. But how shall we become like him ? It may be 
responded, in general terms, by obeying his commandments, 
and conforming to the requirements of his gospel. 

Most certainly those who do thus conform to his law, will, 
by the power of his Spirit, be conformed to his image, and 
be made as much like him as the nature of things in our 
present fallen state will allow ; and in another world the re- 
semblance will be made more perfect and more glorious. 
We know not, indeed, what we shall be, " but we know that 
when he shall appear, we shall be like him." 

From the moment when the soul first begins to conform 
to God's law, to the end, there is perpetual beauty. The 
sinful soul repents, and there is beauty — beauty in the bud, 
and there is joy in heaven. He believes in the Lord Jesus, 



394 The Old Theology. 

and there is beauty — beauty blossoming out, and heaven 
rejoices again. He yields himself to the word which says, 
" Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness," and there 
is beauty, such as angels doubtless witness with delight ; such 
certainly as the Holy Ghost once did descend from heaven 
to bless. He walks in newness of life, and there is beauty, 
for which parallel fails and which cannot be illustrated. He 
struggles on through his Christian course, making his way 
on towards God with a whole world to clog him, and another 
world against him, which angels never did, for there are no 
restraints on virtue among them, and no obstacles between 
them and holiness ; but he struo-o-les on with a world hung; 
around his neck, and with another world before him to be 
surmounted, and warring worlds both, thus exhibiting a 
heroism which in heaven itself is never witnessed, aud there 
is beauty mingled with grandeur — a sublimity and a glory 
for which we have no name in this life. Doubtless, superior 
spirits, when they look down on the scene of strife, on the 
spiritual conflicts fought on battle-fields invisible to us, shout 
with exultant joy when they see the valiant Christian put sin 
and Satan to flight, and come out more than conqueror 
through hira that loved him. But now his conflicts are over; 
he dies in the faith and peace of the gospel, and there is 
beauty. Oh, the beauty of the peaceful death-bed! No 
artist ever flung it on canvas, no poet ever breathed it in 
song ; it is precious even in the sight of the Lord, and there- 
fore outstrips all human expression and conception. Then 
he ascends and lives forever; and there is beauty such as 
God gathers around himself, to illuminate and glorify his 
own habitation, to be objects of his own admiration and com- 
placency to all eternity. As an artist adorns his apartments 
with the productions of genius, and spends his time in the 
midst of them, deriving rapture from their contemplation, so 
God has filled his mansions in the heavens with pictures of 



The Beauty of Holiness. 395 

his own painting — pictures of himself, as imaged in his saints 
— pictures that have life, and heart, and soul; yea, with 
millions of spiritual essences, which are but so many forms 
of beauty, but so many expressions of himself by the Al- 
mighty ; and as it was his pleasure to produce them, so also 
it is his pleasure to dwell with them, and enjoy them forever; 
while his living pictures also enjoy him forever. 

But, in more particular terms, how are we so to conform 
ourselves to the character of God, that we may worship him 
in beauty ? If we wish to follow a pattern, we must see 
what the pattern is. The character of God may be regarded 
in three aspects. In the first place, he is a holy Being; and 
under the term holy is meant to be included every moral 
excellence, conceivable and inconceivable. In the second 
place, God is an intellectual Being. His mental qualities 
are as infinite and as characteristic of him as are the attri- 
butes of his moral nature. The very words of Scripture 
declare that " his understanding is infinite." If his ways 
are above our ways, it is because his thoughts are above our 
thoughts. " O Lord, how manifold are thy works," says the 
Psalmist ; " in wisdom hast thou made them all." And no 
"wonder that an apostle, in view of these works both of provi- 
dence and of grace, exclaimed, " O the depth of the riches 
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God." But, in the 
third place, God is a Being of taste. I know that I am now 
treading upon ground almost strange to the theologian. It 
is not often that this phase of truth is presented from the 
pulpit, and not often that it ought to be. But it is legiti- 
mate, and this occasion furnishes happy opportunity for 
setting it forth. I congratulate myself on this, that there 
are occasions, though they come but seldom, which call forth 
certain aspects of truth, valuable in themselves, but which 
would not be appropriate to the ordinary services of the 
sanctuary. It is appropriate now to say, that God is an 



396 The Old Theology. 

sesthetic Being. If not, why did he clothe the lilies of the 
field in their gorgeous array, or trace its tints on the rose 
with pencil of light ? Might not these, and other beautiful 
productions of nature, have answered their purpose as well 
without their beauty ? And again : Man certainly has a 
perception of the beautiful. Whence did it come? If he 
who formed the eye can see, and if he who formed the ear 
can hear, shall not he who gave us a perception and a love 
of the beautiful, himself perceive and love it? He has 
imparted it to us. How could he impart that which he does 
not possess ? Moreover, beauty must be good, for, if it were 
not, the Psalmist would not have enjoined it as a quality of 
our worship ; and if good, it must exist in God, who is the 
embodiment of all that is good ; and if it exists in himself, 
he must admire it ; and if he admires it in himself, he must 
admire it in other beings and things ; for in the possession of 
this quality they but mirror forth to his own view elements 
of his own character. In every form of beauty he must 
recognize his own features. 

Here, then, is the pattern which we are to follow. God 
is a Being of holiness, of intellectuality, and of taste. Under 
these three may be grouped all the divine perfections 
imitable by us ; and in happy correspondence with these is 
the division, by the philosopher already quoted, of his theme 
into "the good, the beautiful, and the true'*; and the co- 
incidence is the more striking because accidental. Doubtless 
the French thinker would himself be surprised to see that, in 
the good, the beautiful, and the true, he had unwittingly 
made an analysis of the imitable traits of the Almighty. By 
a symmetrical combination of these three in our own char- 
acter, we shall reflect the image of God as perfectly as can 
be done by these broken vessels. 

Let us then briefly inquire how each of these may be cul- 
tivated. Here I must say that, with regard to the first point, 



The Beauty of Holiness. 397 

at least, I must consider myself as addressing those who have 
already made their peace with God by believing on his Son ; 
for this is the first step, without which nothing could be of 
any avail. One of the best means for the culture of holiuess 
is the study of the character of God. The mind becomes 
what it contemplates. Let it dwell upon goodness, and it 
will become good. This is the lesson that the apostle teaches 
when he says, that " we beholding the glory of the Lord are 
changed into the same image " ; and again when he says, that 
" when he shall appear we shall be like him," the reason of 
which the ajDostle goes on to say is, that " we shall see him 
as he is." How important, then, that we should study his 
character now, that we may learn, as soon as possible, to see 
him as he is ! 

But it may be asked, " How can the contemplation of 
the character of God lead us to a knowledge of meekness, 
humility, and obedience, seeing that these things do not exist 
in him, and cannot, since there is no superior being towards 
whom he could exercise these virtues ; while, at the same 
time, these things are essential elements of holiness as it 
exists among men ; and there can be no beauty in any man's 
character who is destitute of them ? " Happy am I to know 
that I can give an answer to every demand of this kind, 
however exorbitant. In the character of Jesus Christ is 
found every good quality which a human soul, filled with the 
Holy Ghost, could contain. He shows us what holiness is, 
not only as it exists in God, but as it may and should exist 
in human beings. If such an expression be allowable, almost 
painful in its plainness, he shows us what God would do, and 
be, if he were a man. A more fitting form of expression, 
perhaps, is this, that Jesus Christ was the embodiment of 
God's ideal of a perfect humanity. He was "the brightness 
of the Father's glory, and the express image of his Person," 
yet he was the son of Mary; he was a man, with human 

21 



398 The Old Theology. 

poAvers of thought, and human finiteness of thought; for he 
grew in wisdom as well as in stature, like other children, and 
with human dispositions and weakness ; for he was in all 
points tempted like as we are, only without sin, and in all 
things was made like unto his brethren. In him, then, being 
a man, yet supernaturally and incomprehensibly united with 
Divinity, the character of God is brought, as it were, to a 
level with our capacity. Every phase of his character is 
imitable, and in him we find every model we need. Here 
we have not only holiness, and wisdom, and every infinite 
excellence, as these things exist in the Almighty, but we have 
meekness, and gentleness, and obedience, and humility ; and 
patient endurance of poverty, pain, hunger, thirst, obloquy, 
insult, persecution, and death. Let Us then study the char- 
acter of God, the eternal, infinite, and self-existent Spirit ; 
and when we find that the essence of the All-glorious One 
too far transcends our capacities, then let us study his char- 
acter as manifested in the person of his Son. To this huuian- 
ized Divinity we can find nearer approach ; and though we 
may never be satisfied with such approximations to the 
model as we can make in this life, yet the day will come 
when we shall be satisfied ; for when we awake from the sleep 
of death, we shall " awake with his likeness." 

I might name many other means for the culture of holi- 
ness, but I pass them by to notice another point. God is an 
intellectual Being. The man who is most intellectual, is in 
that respect most like God. It follows, as a consequence, that 
other things being equal, the man of mind, of cultivated 
mind, of mind at its best, can worship God more in the 
beauty of holiness than any other. The more we are like 
God, the more we glorify God ; and this has reference not 
merely to any one point of his character, but to the whole of 
it, whether regarded as moral, intellectual, or aesthetic. 

The same view may be sustained by another consideration. 



The Beauty of Holiness. 399 

God is certainly more glorified by an angel than by an 
insect. Now why is this ? It can only be from the difference 
in the rank and capacity of the two creatures. The angel 
glorifies him from a perception and imitation of those quali- 
ties which exist in himself; the worm glorifies him to the 
extent of its capacity, yet scarcely more than inanimate 
matter. Apply the same principle to the subject in hand, 
and we see that our power to glorify God, increases commen- 
surately with our other capacities. The man with ten 
talents may increase by ten, but the man with five can 
increase only by five. Here then is encouragement to men- 
tal culture ; here is a motive to study. The inducements 
to this are for the most part represented as if they were 
wholly of a worldly nature, springing alone from temporal 
interests, proposing no other end than personal advancement, 
or usefulness in this life. But here is a motive of a higher 
order. In the holiness of the intellectual man, there is the 
more beauty; and in his devotions, the more that glorifies 
God and that is acceptable to him. Not that wisdom is 
essential to the acceptableness of our faith, for the weakest 
and most ignorant are welcome, and more than welcome ; but 
merely that there must be a difference between worship that 
is intelligent and that which is not ; and that, other things 
being equal, the difference is measured by the proportion of 
intelligence. In the matter of faith, for example, one man 
believes the word of God because it is the word of God, and 
because it is properly substantiated as such. Another 
believes God's word simply from a readiness, common to the 
ignorant and unthinking, to believe any thing. Surely God 
is not glorified equally by the faith of those two men, — one 
in the exercise of a rational belief, and the other in the 
exercise of an irrational Credulity. Or again : one man may 
have eyes to see great wisdom in the plan of salvation ; 
another may be so lacking in mind, or in culture, or in both, 



400 The Old Theology. 

as not to be able to see great wisdom in any thing. A poor 
half-witted creature, with barely mind enough to make him 
Vnorally responsible, may accept the gospel, and be saved by 
it ; yet it is but uttering a truism to say, that he cannot 
accept it as appreciatingly as the one who has better powess 
of appreciation. He then who would worship God in the 
beauty of holiness, must be like God ; and the more he is like 
him, the more elevated will be the tone of his worship ; and 
to be like God one must be not only holy, but intellectual. 
Hence the value of study; hence a new incentive to intelli- 
gent culture; and a new encouragement to founders of 
schools and colleges, and to those whose life-work it is to 
impart knowledge and to teach people to think. Hence the 
value of Mathematics, and Philosophy, and Logic, and what- 
ever else tends to the development of mental power. An 
increase of mental power becomes, under sanctified influences, 
an increase of moral power. In every institution of learning, 
the pupil whose heart is renewed by grace is so instructed 
and mentally improved, as to be able to understand, and 
therefore to appreciate and appropriate and profit by, many 
of the teachings of God's word which must forever be a sealed 
book to the uneducated. Besides this, intellectual power 
gives one influence among men ; and hence he is the more 
able to difflise the precious grace ; and thus he who is blest 
himself is himself a blessing. Even the pupil whose heart is 
not renewed is made more intelligent ; and intelligence, if it 
does not pave the way to piety, paves the way to increase of 
it. Sometimes the preacher of the gospel is restrained from 
putting forth his best powers, because if he were to do so, he 
would be beyond the capacities of many of his hearers ; and 
thus profounder views, and richer views, of gospel truth are 
hindered. The sincere milk of the word must be furnished 
copiously ; its strong meat, which produces greater spiritual 
vigor, sparingly. How desirable that our powers should be 



The Beauty of Holi:n^ess. 401 

so strengthened that we shall be able to digest, not only 
the simplest forms of gospel truth, but also its strongest 
diet, — the most nutritious aliment that it affords. Then we 
should have not so many babes, but more strong men in 
Christ Jesus. 

But I pass to another consideration. God, as already 
shown, is a Being of taste, and as also shown, is most glorified 
by those who are most like him. Consequently, and I think 
the logic is inexorable, the man of taste, other things being 
equal, can worship God more in the beauty of holiness than 
another. If a man be destitute of this quality, there are 
some of the rays of God's glory which he cannot reflect, and 
many of his works which he cannot appreciate. One man 
looks upon the face of nature, fraught as it is with beauty by 
the hand of him who made it, and seeing nothing to admire, 
admires nothing, and is destitute alike of emotion and of 
thought. God has displayed himself in beauty; but as to 
this man, the display is made to the blind. Another, viewing 
the same scene, sees manifestations of God's character in 
every flower, and every bud, and every leaf, and every 
springing blade, and every changing cloud ; and hears whis- 
pers of divine music in the rustling leaves, or in the babbling 
brook, through the ^olian harp set in his ear ; and, filled 
with delight in the midst of these exhibitions of glory, is 
brought into sympathy with the complacency of the Creator 
in view of his own works. Can it be that God is equally 
glorified by these two men? The one unintelligent, apa- 
thetic, not impressed by the great Artist of Eternity, and 
therefore, of course, wholly unimpressible and clod-like, — the 
other alive and quivering with intelligence, and burning with 
emotion, in view of those qualities of things which brought 
forth the benediction of the Almighty when he pronounced 
them good! Nay, he who is destitute of taste, and therefore, 
thus far, on a level with brutes, cannot glorify God as he 

212 



402 The Old Theology. 

does who, by the possession of the Godlike sensibility, is raised 
to a more dignified rank of being. 

Hence the value of aesthetic culture ; for taste, above all 
other things, is the last to exhibit itself without culture, and 
is equalled by few things in its susceptibility of culture. The 
ore embedded in the earth cannot reflect the light of the sun 
like polished steel, nor can taste, in its crude and natural 
state, reflect to heaven the rays of beauty that come from 
thence, until it be polished under the hand of culture. 
Hence the value of the fine arts. Hence the importance of 
studying rhetoric, and poetry, and music, and painting, and 
sculpture, and whatever else tends to develop a perception of 
the beautiful. Hence, too, the value of institutions just like 
this, where instruction is given in branches that are called 
ornamental, as well as those that are called useful. But I 
protest against the distinction which this popular phrase 
seems to indicate. That which is really ornamental is of 
necessity useful. Ornament, real ornament, excites taste ; and 
that which excites, develops it ; and development of taste 
makes us more like God, from whom it came ; infuses a new 
quality into our piety ; lends its charm, not only to our outer 
life and its surroundings, but flings beauty over holiness. 

We see, then, that God is most glorified by the highest 
style of man, and that the highest style of man is one whose 
spiritual condition is symmetrically developed in the good, 
the true, and the beautiful — holiness, intellectuality, and 
taste. So, then, when David says in our text, " O worship 
the Lord in the beauty of holiness," he is enjoining upon us 
to devote every energy, to strain .every nerve, to swell every 
muscle, to summon up all the powers vouchsafed to man, and 
to put every capacity to its best, in the service of God. It is 
only another form, and a highly poetic as well as philosophic 
form, of urging total consecration. The beauty of holiness 
can be attained only by the utmost culture of every talent 



The Beauty of Holiness. 403 

that God has given us. Every holy disposition is to be 
brought out, and burnished to its brightest. Every intellec- 
tual power is to be developed and invigorated, till it can 
grasp all the truth that God has placed within the reach of 
mortals. Every nice perception is to be cultivated till we 
can see all of beauty that God has revealed. When the 
hour for devotion has passed, we should study to improve 
our minds ; and when the severer sciences become wearisome, 
let us devote ourselves to the lighter arts; and when the 
ordinary avocations of life demand our energies, there may 
still be an under-current of thought leading us on to the good, 
the beautiful, and the true; and thus, whatever we do, all 
will be done to the glory of God. Whoever neglects one of 
these cannot, in full at least, worship God in the beauty of 
holiness. The absence of a single grace breaks the circle 
without which there can be no perfection ; and the three 
points that have been named, holiness, intellectuality, and 
taste, are the three which determine, as it were, with geo- 
metric precision, the circle of human capabilities. Let us, 
then, devote every talent, and every energy, to the service 
of the Lord, and consecrate to him every hour and every 
moment. Then, though years of sin, and sorrow, and sigh- 
ing may intervene, yet at last shall our eyes "see the King 
in his beauty," and we shall be wholly conformed to his 
image. And when saint shall call to saint, and ano^el to 
angel, " O worship the Lord," we and all the millions of 
the redeemed shall be able to worship him, as we cannot do 
now, " in the beauty of holiness." 



SERMON XXIV. 

THE KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS, PROMOTIVE OF 
MORAL COURAGE AND MENTAL POWER.^ 

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and per- 
ceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled ; 
and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." — 
Acts iv. 13. 

CONSPICUOUS in the fore-ground is the boldness of 
Peter and John. These two men belonged to the 
lower order of society, and, until about this time, were as 
humble and obscure as an) citizen in all Jerusalem. In our 
neighboring city of Augusta, there are a few humble men 
whose business it is, in the spring time, to catch the shad as 
they come up from the sea, and sell them to the citizens. 
Their calling is honest an^ honorable. Still, they are never 
met in what is called society ; and their social, religious, and 
political influence is as small as that of any other class of 
men that can be found. To this class, or to a class corre- 
sponding to it, in Jerusalem, belonged Peter and John. 
They were dragged up before the highest dignitaries of the 
country in which they lived, — Annas, the high priest, and 
Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and all the kindred of 
a large and influential family. So powerful were this family 
and their adherents, that they controlled even Pilate and 

1 This sermon was delivered at the Annual Commencement of 
the University of Georgia, of which institution the author was, at 
that time, the Presiding Officer. It was afterwards delivered, with 
slight alterations, as a Baccalaureate Sermon at the University of 
North Carolina, and again at the University of Alabama, and again 
at Furman University, South Carolina. 
404 



The Knowledge of Jesus. 405 

Herod, backed as these were by the great Roman Govern- 
ment, and forced them to do what they did not wish to do. 
They were the power behind the throne, more potent than 
the throne itself, and in some respects, omnipotent, as it were, 
in Judea. They not only completely controlled the civil 
authorities, they were at the head of a great religious hie- 
rarchy ; and besides all this, they were in full sympathy with 
the masses of the people, and also with the very rabble. 
This clique, in whom was centralized all the power of the 
country, had entertained a bitter, furious, mortal, and hell- 
inspired hatred of Jesus, whom, having hounded through 
life, they finally murdered by crucifixion, pretending, how- 
ever, to have the authority of law for their diabolical pro- 
ceedings. This Jesus (though they did not know it) was the 
Son of God ; and on the third day he rose from the dead, as 
he had said that he would', and thus put the final stroke to 
the discomfiture of his murderers. By his resurrection, he 
demonstrated his innocence and their guilt, the truth of his 
claims and the madness of those who opposed them ; and he 
showed that they had no power over his life, but that he had 
power over both life and death ; and that he was their 
Master, and had been from the first. 

The high priest and his friends were driven to frenzy. 
Worried and badgered by their own evil passions, as by a 
pack of hungry wolves ; foiled in every direction by sharp 
pointed facts ; defeated as men had never been before since 
the world began, and have never been since ; disappointed 
and vexed, chafed, fretted, chagrined, irritated to the last 
point of human endurance — they were sensitive all over as 
men who had been flayed alive. The very mention of the 
name of Jesus threw them into paroxysms of fury. If any 
one spoke favorably of him and condemned them, of course 
it stirred up rage, delirious and diabolical, such as language 
would exhaust itself without describins:. Nor was this 



406 The Old Theology. 

wholly unreasonable. They were committed, wickedly it is 
true, but none the less committed, to deadly opposition to 
Jesus, and felt in their hearts the same hatred after they had 
put him to death that they had felt before. If they had 
made a mistake, it was the greatest mistake in all history ; 
if they had committed a crime, it was the greatest crime pos- 
sible on earth. Human nature could not endure such an 
imputation as this without intensest anger, such as would 
exhaust all possibilities of indignation and wrath. 

Before such a tribunal as this, filled with venom, stung 
with resentment, and armed with power, Peter and John 
were arraigned. They had spoken in the name of Jesus ; not 
only so, they had professed to work miracles in that name, 
and had said, "Ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and 
desired a murderer to be granted unto you ; and killed the 
Piince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead ; whereof 
we are witnesses." Chap. iii. 14, 15. Kegard their judges; 
then regard their accusation. What should we expect from 
such men, or from any men under such circumstances? 
Humble plebeians over-awed by a haughty aristocracy ; 
criminals in the presence of avenging justice ; ignorant and 
unlearned men, whose want of culture was at once " per- 
ceived," at the mercy of skillful and cunning prosecutors ; 
two friendless fishermen, confronting a majestic court, com- 
posed of infuriated rulers, backed by an infuriated mob. We 
should naturally expect that they would plead " Not guilty" ; 
or that, if forced to meet the charges, they would try to 
apologize themselves out of their perilous position, or at least 
to say something in mitigation of their offence. No doubt 
Satan stood by, expecting to see the two poor men fall victims 
to his temptation. But to his infinite disappointment and 
disgust, and to the inexpressible amazement of priests and 
people, they did something more than confess the name of 
Jesus; they avowed it, and threw it tauntingly in the faces of 



The Knowledge of Jesus. 407 

their prosecutors. Said Peter to them, " Ye rulers of the 
people and elders of Israel," thus singling out and distinctly 
describing the objects of his address: "Be it known to you 
all," making no exceptions; "and to all the people of 
Israel," challenging the mob as well as their leaders ; " that 
by the name of Jesus Christ" — enough was said if not another 
word had been uttered, to explode mines of wrath and fury ; 
— of " Nazareth," a descriptive phrase that only heightened 
rage ; " whom ye crucified," charging the murder of the 
innocent to their very teeth; "whom God raised from the 
dead," oh, last extreme of human insult ! Oh, height ! Oh, 
depth of indignation ! " Even by him doth this man stand 
before you whole." Yes, said Peter, facing the whole of 
them, "Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, be it 
known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by 
the name of Jesus Christ, of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, 
whom God hath raised from the dead, even by him doth this 
man stand before you whole." 

I remember the charge of the Light Brigade, when — 

Half a league, half a league, 

Half a league onward, 
Into the jaws of death 

Kode the six hundred ! 
Cannon to right of them, 
Cannon to left of them, 
Canon in front of them, 

Yolleyed and thundered ! 
Stormed at with shot and shell 
Boldly they rode, and well. 

Into the jaws of death, 

Into the moutii of hell, 

Kode the six hundred ! 

But it was done in the heat of battle. The blast of the 
bugle fired them; the shoutings of the captains encouraged 
them ; the tramp of hoofs and the clash of sabres excited 
them ; the demon of war was turned loose within them ; the 



408 The Old Theology. 

very thunder of camion shook up every passion within them 
to its hottest and fiercest flame ; and heedless and reckless, 
they dashed to the charge. No disgrace was before them, 
but there was glory. No moral courage was needed, physical 
courage only ; and in the desperation which was never felt 
except on the field of battle the charge was made. 

But the two lone fishermen had no glory before them — 
nothing but disgrace, and the miserable death of malefactors. 
There was no excitement of battle, and no hot blood surging 
through their veins, and no six hundred to support them ; 
but all unsustained, and in cold blood, and with public 
opinion to face, more terrific than the artillery of Balaklava, 
with Godlike courage, the two heroic men stood their ground 
and proclaimed the name, and the glory, and the resurrec- 
tion, of Jesus ! At the charge of the Light Brigade — 

All the world wondered. 
But at the sublime boldness of Peter and John, all hell won- 
dered at a virtue which all its powers could not shake ; and 
all heaven wondered at a moral victory such as no angel in 
the skies ever achieved, or ever was called on to attempt ! 

We have thus considered the first line of our text, which 
is in these words, " Now when they saw the boldness of Peter 
and John." The next point to engage our attention is not 
expressed, but implied. When " they perceived," says the 
text, " that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they 
marvelled." The marvel was, not that they were unlearned 
and ignorant ; for that, which was palpable enough, would be 
expected in men of their condition in life ; but the marvel 
was, as is evidently implied, that in spite of their ignorance 
they were able to sustain themselves with a degree of power 
before which the high tribunal and all the people quailed. 
They called on no learned counsellor nor eloquent advocate 
to defend, or even to assist, them. They defended them- 
selves ; and if they did it with boldness, they also did it with 



The Knowledge of Jesus. 409 

power ; insomuch that no man dared to answer them. The 
prosecution, instead of claiming the conclusion, which it had 
the right to do, allow'ed the defence to have it — struck igno- 
miniously dumb by the bold, and I may say aggressive, 
defence of two poor ignorant fishermen. These stood up, not 
like trembling culprits before an august tribunal, — the tri- 
bunal trembled before them! And instead of passing sentence 
on them, requested them to withdraw, that they might confer 
among themselves as to what should be done ; and when they 
called them back, they entered up a nolle prosequi, and 
merely charged Peter and John to preach no more in the 
name of Jesus ; to which Peter replied, in defiance, " We 
cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard," 
and there the matter ended. 

We pass now to the thir J striking fact set forth in the 
text, which is expressed in these words : " They took knowl- 
edge of them that they had been with Jesus." That is, they 
accounted for the boldness and the ability of the two fisher- 
men, by the fact that they had " been with Jesus." What a 
tribute to the character of the Crucified ! They that hated 
him ; they that murdered him ; they who staked their all upon 
his death, and in whose nostrils his very name was a stench, 
when called on to account for sublime phenomena of mental 
and moral power, — were forced by their inner nature to trace 
the facts to the influence of Jesus! They confessed, not only 
that he was adequate to such exhibitions of spiritual might, 
but that those who had even been with him, on whom only 
his shadow had fallen, all unlearned and ignorant as they 
were, were developed into a grandeur of manhood before 
which nothing could stand. 

Tnese Jews of the Sanhedrim were specimen men ; they 
seemed to have two natures, one of which warred against the 
pure and lovely Saviour, and the other of which forced them 
to yield him a reluctant homage. 

2K 



410 The Old Theology. 

From the facts before us let us eliminate a proposition. 
It is this : The knowledge of Jesus, promotive of moral 
courage and of mental power. 

A sentiment just the reverse of this seems, to the thought- 
less observer, to have taken possession of the world. Many- 
seem to imagine that men embrace the religion of Jesus 
because they are cowards, and that even if its disciples were 
not cowards, the tendency of their religion is to make them 
so. Men pretend to believe that there is something about it 
incompatible with strong manhood. It answers very well, 
they pretend, for women and children, and old men, and sick 
men, and dying men, whose power is all gone ; but as for 
young men in the elasticity of their youth, or full manhood 
in vigorous health, there seems to be something in it beneath 
their dignity. It is a great trial and humiliation to them to 
embrace a religion better adapted to trembling invalids and 
timid girls. 

Men affect to think, too, that there is something of intel- 
lectual weakness in embracing the simple religion of Jesus ; 
or, at least, that peculiar intellectual power is exhibited in 
rejecting it. How many pride themselves in their infidelity, 
and imagine that it gives evidence of mental superiority ! 
How many sneer at the easy credulity of Christian faith, and 
imagine that their greater intellectual acumen and power 
require stronger evidence than satisfies the weak-minded 
disciples of Jesus ! 

In these sentiments, on the whole false and pernicious, 
there is a certain element of truth. It is the truth, and it is 
the glory of the gospel of Jesus, that it is adapted to the 
gentle, and the timid, and the fearful ; to the sick and the 
dying ; to the women and children ; to the unlearned and 
ignorant ; to the feeble-minded and imbecile. It is the only 
thing that is adapted to them. Blessed be God that it is 
adapted to them so well ! It is an evidence of its divine 



The Knowledge of Jesus. 411 

orimu that it meets the wants of the little ones. God, who is 
the Father of us all, knows how to take care of his own, and 
leaves no class, however insignificant, unprovided for. He 
who guides the flight of the sparrow counts the very hairs on 
the heads of his little children, the least one of whom is of 
more value than many sparrows. The God who made the 
universe, and holds the planets in their places, is the God 
also of the animalcule, whose minuteness defies our micro- 
scopes. If he provides for these minute creatures, much 
more will he provide spiritual aliment for immortal souls. 
Philosophy addresses only the higher, yea the highest, order 
of mind ; and for that very reason is fatally defective, in that 
it leaves the great mass of mankind forever uncared for and 
hopeless. Thank God that the gospel cares for and cherishes 
those on whom proud philosophy looks down with contempt, 
or at least with utter disregard ; and that thepoor, — ^the poor 
in purse, and the poor in intellect, and the poor in opportu- 
nity, as well as the poor in spirit, — thank God that, since the 
days of Jesus, " the poor have the gospel preached to them," 
— a gospel which they understand, appreciate, and enjoy, 
and which leads them to eternal life after their fitful, sorrow- 
ful life of weakness and poverty is over ! 

But more than this : the gospel is equally adapted to the 
wisest, and greatest, and noblest of earth ; aye, more than 
this again, and far more : it makes its disciples wise and great 
and noble; and out of the poorest human materials, develops 
the grandest character. Witness Peter and John, standing 
on an exalted eminence unapproached by the heroes of his- 
tory. If Kegulus went to certain death at Carthage, he had 
public opinion to sustain him — the most powerful support a 
man ever had. If his people were bathed in tears at his 
departure, he knew that their hearts were in throes of admi- 
ration at his unflinching integrity. 

The two lone apostles stood their ground amid scofls and 



412 The Old Theology. 

sneers and jeers, as well as amid threats, and facing dreadful 
death. But yesterday they were humble fishermen, as ob- 
scure as they were unlearned and ignorant. To-day, the 
Sanhedrim trembles under the power of their eloquence, and 
turns pale before their indomitable courage. Judge of the 
gospel by the work it does ! Remember, too, that this same 
Peter was by nature so timid that he trembled in the pres- 
ence of a girl who said, " thy speech bewrayeth thee " ; and 
remember that out of such meagre material was developed 
the man who looked the fierce Jews in the eyes, and charged 
them to their teeth, and before the whole world, with the 
murder of the Lord of life, and proclaimed fearlessly the 
most offensive of all facts, that Jesus had risen from the dead. 
Again I say. Judge of the gospel by the work it does ! Re- 
member, too, that while the Jews instigated the crucifixion 
of our Lord, it was done by order of the Roman Procurator ; 
and hence the imperial government at Rome was responsible 
for it. Peter was a citizen of that government, and yet fear- 
less of Herod and of Cesar, as he was of the Jews, he called 
it murder. Judge of the gospel by the work it does ! 

On the occasion described by our text, it seems to have 
been taken for granted, as a matter of course, by all the mul- 
titude without a dissenting voice, that the mere fact that 
Peter and John had been with Jesus accounted for their 
wonderful boldness and power. Why is it, that that which 
was so readily agreed to then, is now the subject of dispute ? 
Then, it was promptly conceded that the knowledge of Jesus 
developed mental and moral power. Now, the knowledge of 
Jesus is thought to be fit but for women and children, and 
the feeble and effeminate. How is this phenomenon to be 
accounted for ? One would expect exactly the reverse. One 
would think that after the achievements of eighteen hundred 
years, the question would be settled, and that the power of the 
knowledge of Jesus would be beyond dispute. Has the spirit 



The Knowledge of Jesus. 413 

of Jesus failed in the lapse of time to do what was expected 
of it, judging by what it did at first ? Or did the people then 
make a mistake in accounting for boldness and power, by 
attributing it to the influence of Oesus ? Or if that influence 
was potent then, did it expire with the first generation? 
Why is it that, after eighteen centuries of trial, the religion 
of Jesus has fallen into disrepute ? 

Am I called on to account for the fact? I respond by 
denying it. Nobody believes that the spirit of Jesus, and of 
his gospel, all gentle and humble as it is, is at all akin to the 
spirit of cowardice ; on the contrary, everybody knows that 
it is the very embodied antagonism to it. Nobody believes 
that this results from, or produces, feebleness of mind ; on 
the contrary, everybody knows that its tendency is to develop 
the greatest intellectual acuteness and energy. True, some 
men, yielding to the weaker and worse elements in their 
nature, refuse to join the ranks of the women and children 
and little ones of the Saviour. Youths of scanty manhood 
try to supplement their deficiencies by a half-way avowal 
(they are too cowardly for a complete avowal) of an infidelity 
which is more pretended than real. Men who have been 
long committed to the world, are ashamed to give up all, and 
lay themselves as living sacrifices on the altar of Immanuel. 
But in their hearts, every one of these poor victims of Satan 
believes that the gospel of Christ destroys all that is mean and 
pusillanimous, and brings out the sublimest graces, the 
noblest powers, and the most glorious manhood that human 
nature is capable of. Not only so : every one of them be- 
lieves and knows that the spirit that they are of, the spirit of 
antichrist, develops the basest vices and the meanest quali- 
ties of mind and heart, that ever disgrace human kind. 
" Their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves 
being judges." Men of the world, and some of those who 
claim to be Christians, will sometimes forsake their princi- 

2K2 



414 The Old Theology. 

pies, and for paltry pottage will sell a noble birthright. We 
have all seen such cases. But nobody believes that these 
men are imbued with the spirit of Jesus ; on the contrary, 
everybody knows that his spirit, if they had possessed it, 
would have lifted them above such baseness, and made them 
incapable of it. Much as men may pretend to ridicule the 
religion of the unlearned and ignorant and imbecile, if they 
were in search of one who would adhere to principle, in de- 
fiance of even fire and faggot, they would select that one, 
whether learned or unlearned, male or female, old or young, 
who is most thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Jesus. No ! 
The world has not changed its opinion since the days of 
Annas and Caiaphas. Eighteen hundred years have but 
confirmed the facts. It is taken for granted as readily now 
as then, that the best development of human nature comes 
from having " been with Jesus." 

There are reasons in the nature of things, why the religion 
of our Lord Jesus Christ should have this efiTect on character. 
Regarding ourselves as mere intellectual beings, it elevates 
and advances us, because it supplies us with truth. Truth is 
the best aliment that the mind can feed upon. The mind 
must feed upon something, and there are only two things 
within reach ; one is truth, the other is falsehood. The one 
is unwholesome and pernicious, and is furnished to us by the 
father of lies, and the enemy of our souls. The other is 
wholesome, nutritious, and delicious, and is furnished to us by 
the Father of our spirits and the Author of life. What is 
better calculated to bring out mental muscle than truth ? It 
may be said that mathematics and other sciences teach us 
truth. So they do, and this is the very reason why they are 
valuable to us. 

But the gospel has this advantage : that it familiarizes us 
with truths that are peculiarly elevating. It teaches us the 
nature and character of God ; it leads to the contemplation 



The Knowledge of Jesus. 415 

of the Infinite ; not to the infinite in the abstract, as some of 
the sciences do, but to the infinite in the concrete ; and it is 
the only science which does teach of the infinite as embodied 
in a perfect. Eternal Person. It teaches not only of infinite 
wisdom and power, which Science points to, but does not 
demonstrate; it tells of infinite justice and goodness and love 
and condescension, which Science knows nothing of. It not 
only opens new fields of thought, but introduces us to new 
and sublime regions, to which the genius of Science, in its 
loftiest flight, never soared. No man can meditate on the 
truths of the gospel, without being elevated in mind, as well 
as in morals. The very thought of truth, of any truth, 
expands and ennobles ; but w^hat shall we say of gospel truth, 
which is an infinite enlargement upon all other truth ? 

The influence of the gospel is also of peculiar intellectual 
value, because it supplies us with fundamental truth. Our 
knowledge of the superstructure is of little avail, unless we 
know something^ of the foundations. Science teaches us but 
little of the truth that lies at the bottom ; but the book of 
God, which is only another name for the religion of Jesus, 
teaches those great truths from which all others flow. 
Destroy the truths of the Bible, and there could be no value 
in all that would be left. If the superficial teachings of 
human science develop intellectual power, the more deep- 
lying and the more far-reaching truths of the Bible must 
exert the same influence, only in far greater degree. 

The gospel also inculcates varied truth. Its combinations 
are almost infinite. I might almost say that there is scarcely 
a thing within the range of human knowledge, the germ of 
which is not in the Bible ; and if this is not true to the letter, 
there is at least enough in it to excite our admiration, and 
our amazement. Some one has said that the Bible and 
Shakespeare contain almost everything that has ever been 
said or thought by men ; and I may add, that if the inspi- 



416 The Old Theology. 

ration and instruction that Shakespeare received from the 
Bible had been denied to him, his genius would have been far 
less prolific. The endless variety of the contents of the Book 
of God, has never been measured, and never will be. How 
often, when reading a passage for the hundredth or perhaps 
the thousandth time, we discover some valuable truth, per- 
fectly obvious and lying right on the surface, which we never 
saw before, and on a subject too, which we never dreamed 
was treated of or hinted at in the sacred volume. Posterity 
till the end of time will, doubtless, meet with many a surprise 
of the same kind ; nor will the world last long enough to 
exhaust the teachings of the Book of books. 

What gives its instructions the higher value, is that they 
are so practical. They relate to all the affairs of every-day 
life ; they descend to the minutest details ; they run out into 
the most fibrous ramifications; they ascend to the loftiest 
heights ; their wisdom is infallible ; nothing human has ever 
approached it ; and it may be safe to say that there is nothing 
taught in the whole Book which is not of practical value iu 
this present life. It is the most intensely practical of all 
books. Even a book of mathematics sometimes runs off into 
the regions of the unknown and unknowable, and teaches 
doctrines which can never be applied to any subject whatever. 
The great epic of Homer, whose original genius is said to 
have furnished the germ of all the poetry that has been 
written since his day, might be perfectly familiar to a man's 
mind, and yet leave him with but little sagacity in the affairs 
of this matter-of-fact life ; but he who should familiarize him- 
self equally with the Psalms of David would find infinitely 
finer poetry, and, at the same time, as much worldly wisdom 
as could be written iu an equal amount of the sternest prose. 
He who would conform his life to the teachings of the Book 
of Proverbs, or to those of the Sermon on the Mount, or to 
those of the Epistle to the Romans, to say nothing of the 



The Knowledge of Jesus. 417 

unmeasured, and immeasurable wisdom to be found in all the 
rest of the living oracles, would be considered by practical 
men, whether men of the world or not, as one of the wisest 
and most sagacious of his race. 

We have seen that if to be with Jesus develops intel- 
lectual power, there are reasons for it. It is because it 
familiarizes our minds with truth, with the most elevated and 
most elevating forms of truth, with fundamental truth, with 
varied truth, and with practical truth. Where can we find 
anything so well adapted to our mental wants as this? 
Where is there another diet so wholesome and so strength- 
giving? If all the books in the world were to be destroyed 
but one, which one would it be best to keep? Which one 
would come nearest to covering all the ground, and to meet- 
ing all the wants, mental and moral, of human nature? In 
which one is there the greatest concentration of knowledge 
and wisdom, of good morals, and even of pure taste? In 
which, such encyclopedic variety of all kinds of excellence? 
In which, such condensation of all that is valuable? In 
which, such expressed essence of the very best thought attain- 
able by human minds? In which, too, such literary beauty? 
No man is so wise, but that the knowledge of Jesus will make 
him vastly wiser. No man is so ignorant or so feeble-minded, 
but that the knowledge of Jesus will put him in such position 
that he will command no small degree of respect wherever a 
pure and lofty intelligence is appreciated. 

Witness Peter and John. When the people saw such 
power in unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled. But 
the marvel ceased when they remembered that these peasants 
of Galilee had been with Jesus. Association with him was 
more than a substitute for the teachings of the schools ; and 
Annas and Caiaphas pronounced in advance the judgment 
of future generations. But one opinion has prevailed for 
eighteen hundred years, though others have been broached 



418 The Old Theology. 

and vainly urged, and that opinion is this: "The knowledge 
of Jesus, the best of sciences." 

Leaving this view of the subject, let us observe that there 
are reasons in the nature of things why companionship wuth 
Jesus should develop our courage. The boldness of Peter 
and John is but a specimen of the boldness of all who have 
been as near to Jesus as they had been. He who walks side 
by side with the Saviour is always in the right Of all the 
sources of power over one's self and over others, none per- 
haps is so great as consciousness of right. It makes a man 
immovable, invincible, irresistible. So it is, so it ought to be, 
so it must be. If a man can say as Jesus did : " Many good 
works have I shewed you from my Father ; for which of these 
do ye stone me ? " he can face those who thirst for his blood 
and not be afraid. If they actually stone him, as they did 
Paul, he will have the courage, as the apostle had, to go 
straightway and do again the "very thing for which he was 
stoned. Of if, like Stephen, he is stoned to death, he can, 
like the proto-martyr, turn his manly breast to the murderous 
rock, and lifting up his hands to heaven, say : " Lord, lay 
not this sin to their charge " ; and if his face should shine 
like an angel's, it would be but the flash of the spirit through 
the clay. " Conscience," says the great poet of human nature, 
" conscience doth make cowards of us all." Verily, indeed, a 
guilty conscience does; the poet was right, and by implica- 
tion teaches, in this pithy line, exactly what this morning's 
lesson teaches, that a clear conscience makes heroes of us all. 
A pure heart is always a brave heart. If not pure, there is 
always a weak spot in it ; and in some emergency it will be 
sure to fail. The dipping of Achilles in the Styx made him 
invulnerable except in the heel ; but in the heel was an un- 
protected spot which always kept fear awake, and through 
which at last the poisoned shaft brought death. A heart 
baptized in purity, which is but a synonym for the name of 



The Knowledge of Jesus. 419 

Jesus, makes the man invulnerable all over, and fearless ail 
through. 

Mere bravery, physical courage as it is called — which is 
nothing more than forgetfuluess, or at least disregard, of per- 
sonal danger — is often found in bad men. But they have 
nothing to boast of in this. It is a quality which they share 
with brute beasts ; and taken in the abstract, unaccompanied 
by moral principle, it is mere brutality, a disgrace rather 
than a credit. It is seen only in the lowest of our species. 
Frequently what passes for it is sheer cowardice. Many a 
man has exposed his breast to the bullet simply because he 
did not dare to face the opinion of those whom he knew to be 
fools, and has died on the field of dishonor, as it ought to be 
called, a martyr to his own cowardice. From soldiers of 
unquestionable valor we learn that much of what passes for 
bravery on the battle-field is cowardice. Men rush on, 
because they are afraid to rush back and afraid to stand still. 
The greatest safety is in the charge ; and hence in what seems 
to be heroic, and which is heroic with the real men, the 
greatest cowards sometimes make the best speed. The 
bravery of bad men is but a suspicious virtue at best ; and a 
man must be at a loss for something on which to plume him- 
self, when he boasts of that of which a dog, if he could only 
speak, might boast of just as well. 

The man Christ Jesus had moral courao-e enouo-h to lead a 
life of perfect virtue, — a greater test perhaps of heroism than 
to endure the blood-sweat of Gethsemane, or the terrors of 
Calvary. In him was manhood, the only perfect manhood 
the world ever saw. The nearer we press to him, the more 
we shall be like him. Nothing but the consciousness of 
right, which flows only from fellowship with him, can inspire 
that true courage which none but moral beings can exercise, 
and which only is worthy of a man. 

For another reason, companionship with Jesus divests men 



420 The Old Theology. 

of fear. So long as they walk with him, they know that they 
have God on their side. Men may prate of boldness inde- 
pendently of God, but it is a fictitious boldness ; there is no 
reality in it ; and if there were, it proves nothing more than 
the folly of those who pride themselves upon it. He who 
walks with Jesus walks with God, and can always say, " The 
Lord is on my side ; I will not fear ; what can man do unto 
nie ? " He who has been with Jesus knows that the great 
Teacher said, " Fear not them that kill the body," and in sub- 
stance, that those who fear God, and show their fear by 
keeping his commandments, need fear none else. If his 
enemies compass him about like bees, as numerous and with 
stings as sharp, yet he says in the language of the inspired 
poet : " They are quenched like the fire of thorns ; in the 
name of the Lord will I destroy them." If he is obliged to 
say, as the Psalmist did, " My soul is among lions," yet so 
composed and serene is he that, though beset with monsters, 
he can say, " My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed ; I 
will sing and give praise." No man who is not imbued with 
the spirit of Jesus can feel the assurance of divine favor and 
protection, which is like an impenetrable aegis to the Chris- 
tian, and no man without this assurance can possibly exercise 
the boldness of him who has it. 

But there is another reason in the nature of things why 
the fellowship of Christ will make a man of a man, and fill 
him with courage. That glorious Person who taught by ex- 
ample, as well as by precept, develops by his influence all 
those other graces which are the basis of genuine courage, 
and without which it cannot exist. Adherence to principle, 
fidelity to truth, obedience to God, love to man, abnegation 
of self, disregard of life if necessary to sustain the right, con- 
tempt of the world when it would lead astray, and the hope 
of a future life, — these were the things that Jesus inculcated, 
these were the virtues that he practiced. To be with him, to 



The Knowledge of Jesus. 421 

know him, is to admire and love and imitate. In the exercise 
of these graces by his people is involved the boldness which 
Peter and John exhibited, and which marks the true disciple. 
Take away these constituent elements from courage, and there 
would be nothing left. 

AVhat religion is there, or wliat philosophy, that can bring 
out the sublime courage that is involved in the spirit of 
Christ? Aside from religion and philosophy, can human 
nature, unaided and untaught, attain to a pure heroism ? 
No ! The race is a race of cowards. True, men will fight ; 
but w'ill they keep from fighting? Here is where the high 
courage of the gospel comes in. The highest courage ever 
exercised or required in this world is the courage to do right. 
I do not know that I overstate the truth if I say, that the 
grandest moral power ever exercised in the universe of God 
is the power, in spite of depraved nature, and in spite of the 
powers of darkness, to do right. Human nature is not in- 
clined to the right ; its tide rushes like a flood in the opposite 
way. No philosophy teaches the right. No religion presents 
the pure morality of the New Testament; and none ever 
practiced it but Jesus Christ, and none ever approximated it 
except those who imi4ate his example. 

Whenever, then, in these latter days, we see men exhibit 
apostolic boldness ; or when we see them, in spite of ignorance 
and opportunity, raised to the peerage in the realm of high 
character and intellect — things not uncommon, — we may 
know now, as well as it was known eighteen hundred years 
ago, that they have " been with Jesus." 

The reasons now may be obvious which have induced me, 
on this occasion, to hold up the unlearned and ignorant as 
models for imitation. It may have appeared to some that I 
was unhappy in the selection of a theme ; that, on an occasion 
like this, the Sabbath anniversary of an institution of learn- 
ing, consecrated to literature and to science, I ought to have 

2L 



422 The Old Theology. 

taken examples of an opposite character ; that it would have 
been more in keeping with the spirit of the institution, and 
of the occasion, if I had selected some topic in connection 
with the accomplished and cultivated characters of sacred 
history ; that I might better have spoken of Moses, who was 
acquainted with all the arts and sciences known to the 
Egyptians, some of which are to this day unknown to us ; or 
of the accomplished Luke, at once an artist, a physician, and 
a historian ; or of the gifted and learned apostle to the Gen- 
tiles, who outshone his master, Gamaliel, whose name seems 
to have been in his day a synonym for the highest culture. 

Why have I passed by these illustrious examples, and 
selected in preference the obscure fishermen of Galilee? The 
former represent human learning as well as the better wisdom 
which is from on high ; the latter represents nothing but 
the knowledge of Jesus. I select these to show by the 
example that this knowledge is paramount; that all other 
knowledge without this is worthless. If forced to the dread- 
ful alternative that either must be dispensed with, the 
knowledge which the University represents or that which 
made heroes of Peter and John, then I say, Perish the 
University! Let the right hand of human art forget its 
cunning, let the tongue of human knowledge and wisdom 
cleave to the roof of its mouth ; but let the gospel of Jesus 
be preached forever and ever! If the choice must be made, 
then I, for one, bid adieu to the philosophers of the world, 
from Plato down to Huxley, and choose my lot with the 
unlearned and ignorant Peter and John. I rejoice in an 
appropriate opportunity thus publicly to declare, although 
myself a teacher of human science, and a disciple of Aris- 
totle as well as of Jesus, that all learning fails of its highest 
end unless it be sanctified, and that fellowship with Jesus is 
the best means of mental and moral development. 

No passage that I have found in all the Scriptures 



The Knowledge of Jesus. 423 

furnishes so inviting an occasion to show the contrast between 
the knowledo-e of Jesus and all other knowledo-e, as that 
which I have chosen. " Now when they saw the boldness of 
Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and 
ignorant men, they marvelled ; and they took knowledge of 
them that they had been with Jesus." I thank God for the 
opportunity furnished me both by the occasion and by the 
text, occupying my position as the Chancellor of the Uni- 
versity of Georgia, and as the representative of the learned 
Faculty, to make my profound obeisance to the unlearned 
heroes of Galilee, because they had been with Jesus, and had 
imbibed so much of his spirit as to make them worthy the 
admiration of mankind. As the standard bearer of the 
University, the home of science, literature, and the arts, I 
reverently dip the colors, in homage to the more glorious 
banner of Jesus ! 

ADDRESS. 

Young gentlemen of the graduating class : 

You have been instructed, since you have been with us, in 
your own language, in ancient and modern tongues, and in 
the philosophy of all tongues; also in mathematics, and 
physics, and metaphysics, and chemistry, and astronomy, and 
geology, and various other sciences; and on the Lord's Day 
by various ministers in the principles of the Christian religion. 
If I must put the finishing stroke to your education, before 
you depart ; if I must put the cap-stone on the structure 
reared chiefly by my accomplished colleagues, let my last 
lesson of instruction be this : 

In the first place : Remember, that taking our immortal 
career into the account, all human knowledge is worthless 
without the knowledge of Jesus; nay, worse than worthless. 
It will increase your responsibility, and if not guided by the 
spirit of Jesus, it will be as a millstone to your neck in a 



424 The Old Theology. 

future world. "Unto whomsoever much is given, of him 
shall be much required." Powers developed under instruc- 
tions such as you have received, if consecrated to God, are a 
glorious blessing; but if perverted and abused, as all powers 
are that are not devoted to Christ, they will only add bitter- 
ness to future sorrow, and depth to future woe. 

In the second place : Let not the fact that you have been 
permitted to receive here a certain polish under the hand of 
culture lead you to look down upon those who have the mis- 
fortune to be unlearned and ignorant, especially when they 
are the disciples of Jesus. Such men — that is, men who have 
attained to this best of sciences — all the world ought to look 
up to. Whatever their shortcomings in other respects, they 
are possessed of the great mystery of Godliness, whose glo- 
rious secrets far surpass all human wisdom, and are worth 
more than ten thousand times ten thousand sciences. 

In these last words that I shall speak to you, I pray you 
to he men ! It takes something more than time, somethinoc 
more than mere maturity, to make a man. Whether you 
will or will not be men, depends on yourselves. Let there be 
nothing shallow or fictitious about your manhood ; let there 
be no veneering of manly graces over an unmanly heart ; let 
all be real, genuine, and solid. Be men! and remember that 
there is no such thing as full-grown manhood — manhood at 
its best — without the knowledge of Jesus. Be men of 
courage, of high courage, of dauntless courage, of courage 
that will be a marvel to all who witness it. Remember that 
there can be no courao:e, in the his-h and noble sense of that 
term, unless it springs from a sanctified heart. You are 
entering into the battle of life. Be brave ; I beseech you to 
be brave! The bravest men follow close to the captain. 
Jesus Christ is the Great Captain, whose lead, if you follow, 
you will prove yourselves to be men — men indeed, and 
worthy of the victory which you will be sure to achieve. 



The Knowledge of Jesus. 425 

Since you have been here you have been taught the value 
of books. Remember that the libraries of the world are as 
nothing compared to the Book of books. By contemplating 
the character and teachings of Jesus, as there set forth, you 
will be assimilated to the glorious Examplar, to him who only 
has shown how sublime a thing it is to be a man. If you 
would be men, you can be so in fullest measure only by being 
with Jesus ; and the best place to find him is in his word. 

Keep company through life with none but the good and 
the pure. If it is good to be with Jesus, so also it is good to 
be with his people : by contact with them, you are brought 
near to him. Let all your associations and sympathies be 
with the righteous ; and, if your afiectionate relationship to 
them is real, you will not be separated from them in the 
world to come. I do not believe that a real lover of the 
people of God ever was lost. 

Seek Jesus in the sanctuary, for there is where his honor 
dvvelleth. Seek him in the closet, for there is where com- 
munion with him is closest. If you would be men of true 
valor, be men of prayer. If you would bring your intel- 
lectual manhood to its best, be men of God. 

It is related in classic fable that Antseus, the son of Earth, 
was engaged in dreadful conflict with the god of strength. 
The latter, being his overmatch, hurled him to the ground. 
But as he touched the bosom of Earth, his mother, she im- 
parted to her son fresh strength, and he rose, more vigorous 
than before, to renew the conflict ; and it was only by keep- 
ing him away from this strength-giving breast that he was 
finally overcome. 

In our conflicts with the great adversary, when we find 
ourselves giving way, let us remember the power of thera 
who had been with Jesus ; let us fall on his breast, and we 
shall receive strength, not from earth, but from heaven, that 
will bring us off more than conquerors. With Jesus, we are 

2L2 



426 The Old Theology. 

invincible ; without him, we are lost. Having been with 
him in spirit through life, we shall be with him in the life to 
come. 

My sons ! I pray you he men. Jesus Christ himself is the 
model man. But if you would have other examples of mag- 
nificent manhood, I point you, not to the warriors, and 
philosophers, and statesmen whom the world applauds, but 
to those humble, obscure, and unlearned men, whose bold- 
ness and whose wisdom proved that they had " been with 
Jesus " ; and in the spirit world, may we all be forever " with 
Jesus " ! 



SERMON XXV. 

OLD AGE AND DEATH.^ 

"Kemember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the 
evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when tliou shalt say, I 
have no pleasure in them ; while the sun, or the light, or the moon, 
or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain ; 
in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the 
strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they 
are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened ; and 
the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding 
is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the 
daughters of music shall be brought low ; also when they shall be 
afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the 
almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and 
desire shall fail : because man goeth to his long home, and the mourn- 
ers go about the streets : or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the 
golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, 
or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to 
the earth as it was : and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. 
. . . . Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : Fear 
God, and keep his commandments ; for this is the whole duty of 
man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every 
secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."— Ecclesi- 
ASTES xii. 1-7, 13, 14. 

THE exposition of this passage of Oriental prose-poetry, 
which is about to be given, is the same as that which may 
be found substantially, though in various forms, in books, — in 
books with which the world is familiar. All that can be 
claimed for the present discours<^ is, that it is presented in 
the speaker's own way, — distilled through the alembic of his 

1 A Sunday afternoon lecture to University Students ; and this 
may be the apology for the Latin quotations. 

427 



428 The Old Theology. 

own mind,— and that some of the combinations, and perhaps 
some of the thoughts, may be new.i 

Doubtless, thousands have read and admired this chapter, 
without the slightest conception of the meaning of many of 
its expressions. They perceive in them a wild beauty, with- 
out being able to define it ; a mysterious meaning, of which 
they apprehend just enough to please the fancy, and excite 
the imagination, but not enough to inform the understanding. 
Even when thus imperfectly understood, there is in the 
chapter much of beauty, much of solemnity, much of pathos, 
and much of sublimity. 

I remember reading once in my early years a work of 
fiction, which closed with these words, " The silver cord was 
loosed, the golden bowl was broken." I did not know that 
the words were taken from the Bible. I had not the slightest 
idea of their meaning ; but they affected me deeply — perhaps 
to tears. They seemed to me to be a beautiful figure of some 
heart-rending catastrophe. They spoke of joys past and sor- 
rows present, of bright hopes and bitter disappointments. 
The loosening of the silver cord figured to me the giving up 
of some cherished prize; the broken pieces of the golden 

1 There is no passage of Scripture in regard to the general mean- 
ing of which commentators are more unanimous ; and no passage, 
perhaps, in which, as to matters of detail, there is more diversity of 
opinion. The most learned expositions that I have seen are those of 
Professors Stuart, Zockler, Hengstenberg, and Delitzsch, with neither 
of whom have I been able, in some instances, to agree. Standing 
alone, I should scarcely dare to differ with either of these distin- 
guished scholars ; but they differ so widely with each other that 
neither is authoritative ; nor do I perceive that they have greatly im- 
proved on the critics of long years ago. The truth is, that the ob- 
scurities are to be interpreted by the imagination rather than by 
scholarship, and hence the field is open to all. As to the scope and 
intent of the passage, taken as a whole, there is not the shadow of a 
doubt; hence if I have erred in particulars, I have certainly not 
erred as to the great lesson which the writer of the chapter intended 
to teach. 



Old Age and Death. 429 

bowl lay scattered before me, as the wreck and ruin of that 
which was loved. Thus, without the least conception of 
what was in the mind of the writer when the words were 
written, I still enjoyed them. So it may often happen that, 
while our conceptions are exceedingly vague and shadowy, 
they may still be comforting and valuable. The ill-instructed 
and the ignorant may have very dim conceptions of divine 
truth, and an undefined view even of the saving truths of the 
gospel, and still be the happier and the better for them ; and 
all of us who love God are delighted in spirit when we think 
of him, and are always elevated in spiritual life by commu- 
nion with him, while at the same time we know that our best 
ideals of him are imperfect and utterly inadequate. But the 
more we know of him, the more we appreciate him ; the more 
we know of anything, the more we enjoy in it that which is 
enjoyable. As to the chapter before us, the more intelligently 
we read it, the more we shall see in it to admire, and the 
more we shall be impressed by its teachings. 

The chapter, taken as a whole, is a poetic and allegorical 
description of old age and death. The decrepitude, the 
infirmities, and the wretchedness of old age, described in 
literal and graphic terms, would surely not excite our percep- 
tion of the beautiful ; and the object itself we should not sup- 
pose would awakeu the genius of the poet. Virgil indeed 

does say : 

Fortunate senex ! hie inter flumina nota, 
Et fontes sacros, frigus captabis opacum, 
Hinc alta sub rupe, canet frondator ad auras, 
Nee tamen interea raucse, tua cura, palumbes, 
Nee gemere aeria eessabit turtur ab ulino. 

But while his address is to the happy old man, his descrip- 
tion is of the landscape, and of rural pleasures, heightened by 
rural sounds. He was too wary to risk his beautiful but not 
inspired verse on the failing powers and shattered constitu- 
tion of old age. Shakespeare is more bold, and actually 



430 The Old Theology. 

describes the painful sight of a man drivelling in octoge- 
narian infancy, and falling helpless into the arms of death. 

The sixth age shifts 
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, 
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side ; 
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide 
For his shrunk shank ; and his big manly voice, 
Turning again towards childisli treble, pipes 
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, 
That ends this strange, eventful history, 
Is second childishness, and mere oblivion, 
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything ! 

In this vivid description all is striking, but all is revolting ; 
there is no tenderness, no pathos, no sublimity. Indeed, 
there is a most unpraiseworthy want of that affectionate 
reverence which is due to the venerable patriarch, bowed 
down by the weight of many years, and like the shock of 
corn ripe for the sickle and ready to be gathered by God's 
harvesters into the great garner-Louse, where the mortal puts 
on immortality. It is interesting to notice the immeasurable 
distance between the inspiration of unaided genius, and the 
inspiration of genius, wdth divine inspiration superadded. 
Even as unpromising a theme as that of human life in its last 
stage is charmed into beauty, and touches thetenderest heart- 
strings, and awakens sentiments both deep and delicate, and 
at the same time inspires emotions, sad and solemn, bat ele- 
vating, by the genius of the royal poet and sage of Israel. 

Cicero, it is true, in his charming essay, De Senedutey 
breathes a much more amiable spirit than Shakespeare; and 
his meditations are as wise, and as comforting, as could be 
expected from a heathen philosopher; nay, more so; and he 
was perhaps indebted for some of his views to these very 
living oracles which lie before us. But Cicero, while he had 
the highest order of talent, was not a man of genius, he was 
not a poet, he was not a man of God. His extended essay 



Old Age and Death. 431 

contains not a tithe of the knowledge, nor of the wisdom to 
be found in these few lines of Solomon ^ ; and to affect the 
heart it is powerless. The contrast, between his essay and 
the brief chapter before us, is the contrast between knowl- 
edge and ignorance ; between diluteness and concentration ; 
between poetry and prose; between pathos and apathy; 
between solemn warnings that can never be forgotten, and 
well-sounding, but insipid platitudes. The essay, De 
Senedute, read before this chapter, makes an impression 
favorable to the writer, but not strongly as to his subject; 
read after this chapter it makes no impression at all, unless it 
be the impression of disappointment. 

But now let us look to the particulars. The expression : 
" While the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh," is 
a specimen of the parallelism which characterizes Hebrew 
poetry .2 A favorite method with the Hebrew poets was to 
repeat a sentiment with varied phraseology. Illustrative of 
this is the speech of Lamech to his wives, when he said ; 
"Adah and Zillah, hear my voice ; ye wives of Lamech, 
hearken unto my speech; for I have slain a man, to my 
wounding, and a young man to my hurt." Innumerable 
instances of like kind might be adduced similar to the ex- 

1 Scholars are divided in opinion as to the authorship of the Book 
of Ecclesiastes, but I have adhered to the long established opinion 
that it was written by Solomon. The great objection to the opinion 
that Solomon was the author of the book is found in the fact that 
certain words and linguistic peculiarities occur in it which were not 
in use in the Solomonic age. This may be because we have not the 
book in the dialect in which it was written. We have even a stronger 
instance of this kind in the Gospel by Matthew, which was probably 
written in Hebrew, while we liave it only in Greek. But whoever 
the author of Ecclesiastes may have been, he was a man of rare 
genius, and undoubtedly inspired. The canonicity of the book has 
seldom been called in question. 

''The Book of Ecclesiastes is a book of philosophy rather than of 
poetry ; but this passage is certainly poetic. 



432 The Old Theology. 

pression : " While the evil days come not, nor the years draw 
nigh," where the second phrase is but the echo of the first. 
In English poetry the lines are often made to rhyme in 
sound ; in Hebrew poetry the rhyme is in the sense. " When 
the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh " is simply 
a rhyme. 

The picture of old age is adroitly relieved of its un- 
pleasant feature, by the fact that it is a present presentation 
of the future portraiture of the person addressed, and not of 
another. Being thus brought home to the man, and fastened 
on himself, it disarms irreverent criticism, and inclines to 
lenience and forbearance. " When the evil days come not, 
nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no 
pleasure in them." The description is first brief, and in 
generic terms, of a period when there is no pleasure. There 
is no positiveness in this statement ; it is simply a negation. 
Old age is represented merely as a state in which the enjoy- 
ments of life are over. But in the next verse, the expressions 
are more positive as well as more specific, and the poet speaks 
of the particulars which are the cause of failing pleasure. 

" While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be 
not darkened." 

In this indirect and delicate way, the poet refers to failing 
sight. He does not mean that the sun, and the moon, and 
other luminous bodies, are actually darkened, but only that 
they seem so to one of weakened vision. Thus, with an ex- 
pertness known only to genius, is the subjective translated 
into the objective, and the actual condition of the man set 
forth by the seeming condition of outward things. Nothing 
appears to the old as it does to the young. The grass is not 
so green, nor the sky so blue, nor so bright, nor the flowers so 
gay, nor the mead so inviting, nor even the sun so glorious, 
as to the eager and inquisitive and easily delighted eye of 
youth. All these objects of sight lose their charms, one by 



Old Age and Death. 433 

one, until finally the very sun may be said to be dark- 
ened. 

"Nor the clouds return after the rain." When the rain 
has ceased, we look for sunshine and bright skies ; if the 
clouds return, we feel disappointed; and if this should be 
often repeated, it is apt to superinduce general gloominess 
and dejection of spirits. Under this figure the writer de- 
scribes the constantly recurring infirmities and disappoint- 
ments of declining years. One pain is relieved and another 
takes its place — the clouds return after the rain. One be- 
reavement or other misfortune is endured, and as the sorrow 
is about to pass away, there is a moment of hope; but 
the clouds return and another affliction is on hand. Thus 
not only some, but all ''days must be dark and dreary." 
By a single stroke, by a mere touch of the artist's pencil, he 
has brought on that which, after many words of explanation, 
is not so vivid as when he simply said: "The clouds return 
after the rain." 

" In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble." 
Under the figure of a house, the human body is referred to 
as the habitation of the soul ; and by " the keepers of the 
house" is meant the hands and arms, which are its chief 
protectors and defenders. There is no coarse and bald de- 
scription of the palsied hands and shaking limbs, but under 
the image of brave men, trembling under an overwhelming 
burden, is the idea presented to the imagination. 

" The strong men shall bow themselves." The fact is not 
mentioned in literal terms that, as years advance, the stature 
diminishes. The reason of this phenomenon is, that the 
joints approach each other, by the drying up, or rather by 
the failing supply, of lubricating fluids ; the muscles become 
flaccid, and fail to hold the frame closely together ; and as 
these and the sinews loosen, the lower limbs become bent, 
outward, or inward, or forward; consequently the erect 

2M 



434 The Old Theology. 

attitude of youth is gone, and the old man is bowed down. 
All this is express3d by the royal writer in the words, "the 
strong men shall bow themselves." 

"The grinders shall cease, because they are few." The 
figure is of those grinding at the mills by hand, in com- 
panies, and one after another leaving until all are gone. 
Reference is had to the teeth, which disappear as one grows 
old, until, finally, the natural preparation of food for the 
stomach must cease entirely. The literal fact is painful to 
contemplate ; the figure used to describe it is simply sadden- 
ing but not offensive. 

"And those that look out of the windows shall be 
darkened." It has been supposed that this refers to the 
eyes, as these are the windows which open from the soul to 
the outer world. But there are two objections to this: 1. 
Failing sight has been already spoken of, and the present 
expression is too far from the first to be regarded as its 
parallelism. 2. It is not the window itself that is darkened, 
but those who look out of it. Hence, I suppose that it refers 
not to physical, but to mental vision. The power of clear 
conceptions, and consequently of drawing nice distinctions, 
becomes sensibly weakened in the late decline of life. Men 
not only fail to see clearly, but they fail to think clearly. 
These internal powers of thought are they that look out of 
the windows upon the objective world, and it is they that are 
darkened. That this is the proper interpretation appears 
probable, from the fact that, if this expression does not refer 
to decaying mental powers, then that peculiar infirmity 
incident to old age is left out altogether; for there is no 
other expression that refers to it; and it is not to be supposed 
that Solomon would omit so conspicuous an item. 

"And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the 
sound of the grinding is low." It has been said that this 
refers to tlie fact that, as age advances, men keep out of the 



Old Age and Death. 435 

streets, and are stayers at home. I do not believe that this 
is the correct interpretation. When is it that the doors shall 
be shut in the streets? It is when the sound of the grinding 
is low. This shows that the loss of teeth is what causes the 
doors to be shut in the streets. The mere loss of teeth would 
not cause one to stay at home ; and for this reason I think 
that the common interpretation is wrong. That which is 
spoken of as streets must have some connection with the 
teeth. The expression "doors shut in the streets" must 
mean the failure of something which depends on the teeth. 
It may refer to the powers of digestion; the stomach and 
bowels being compared to streets; and the doors or gates 
being shut simply imply that these important viscera, being 
not supplied with proper material, assume abnormal con- 
ditions, and cease to perform their functions. 

" And he shall rise up at the voice of the bird." Insomnia 
is a common complaint with the aged. It is the well-known 
habit of such persons to wake early in the morning. Their 
nights are tedious, and wearisome, and they long for the 
approach of day ; and if they fall into light and momentary 
slumber, they awake at the first chirp of the bird ; and in 
tropical and semi-tropical climates, the birds begin to whistle 
at the earliest approach of dawn. 

" And all the daughters of music shall be brought low." 
The daughters of music are the voice which produce it, and 
the ears which enjoy it. Under this delicate figure, repre- 
sentincr music as a matron, and the voice and hearino; as her 
daughters, the sacred writer, whose taste is as exquisite as his 
fancy is inventive, describes the fact that, when other powers 
fail, the voice too loses its power of making melody, and the 
hearing becomes dull and inappreciative. 

"Also, when they shall be afraid of that which is high." 
The aged are made dizzy by looking down from high places, 
or by looking up to them. It is not only fear that they feel, 



436 The Old Theology. 

it is something more ; it is the nervousness which shrinks 
from the sight of anything to which the eye is unaccustomed. 
A young man, when debilitated by sickness, while his nerves 
are yet unstrung, is afraid of that which is high ; and this 
condition, which is temporary with him in youth, and only 
accidental, will become chronic, and his normal condition 
when he is old. 

" And fears shall be in the way." The great characteristic 
of old age is timidity. Old men fear death, and danger in 
any form, more than the young. One would suppose that 
they would care much less for life than the young; and so 
perhaps they do. But in the first place, they have formed 
the life-long habit of caution and care; and in the next place, 
they are governed more by their sensibilities than by their 
judgment ; and finally, their weakened nerves can bear no 
strain. Hence, wherever they go, fears are in the way 
and sometimes they excite an affectionate smile, when they 
caution a vigorous and active young man to take care lest he 
fall, while walking in a place of perfect safety. 

" And the almond tree shall flourish." Here is described 
the whitened locks of the man of many years. It is remark- 
able that the poet does not compare the white hair of the 
aged to anything that is perishing, and passing away, but 
rather, under the figure of the flowering almond, to that 
which is fresh, and blooming, and blossoming into life. 

" And the grasshopper shall be a burden." To the aged 
and infirm, everything is a burden. They are a burden to 
themselves. Certainly they are not capal)le of enduring 
fatigue; and such is theii- dread of effort, that they shrink 
from that which even looks like effort. How often the aged 
parent fails to write to the absent, though much-loved, son, 
just because he scarcely feels able to write. To such, even so 
small a thing as a grassliopper would be a burden. 

"And desire shall fail." This is the first specification 



Old Age and Death. 437 

that is made in literal terms. All the senses become blunted ; 
all the appetites lose their keenness ; the passions die out ; 
all that nervous system, which is the source of pleasure to 
the young, is inoperative with the aged, and their chief 
desire is to be let alone. Instincts which once loudly 
asserted themselves, now ask for nothing. 

" Because man goeth to his long home." This is the 
grave. It is compared, not to a dungeon, nor to a loathsome 
place, but to a home ; not to a temporary stopping place, 
which has none of the real sacredness of a home, though it be 
called by that name, but to a long home, which is a real home, 
and therefore a place not to be dreaded, but to be loved. 

" And the mourners go about the streets." The expres- 
sion is again literal, and refers to the funeral obsequies, when 
mourners walk the streets in lamentation. 

" Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be 
broken." The silver cord has reference to the spinal marrow, 
which is a kind of elongation of the brain, and which is the 
great nervous centre of the whole system. When this fails, 
all fails. Its rupture is certain and immediate death. Its 
inflammation produces the terrible disease known as menin- 
gitis. Recent experiments are said to show that it is, to 
some extent, the seat of intelligence. When the brain is 
entirely removed from some animals, they still show some 
signs of intelligent thought, so long as the silver cord is 
unbroken. It may be that three thousand years ago Solomon 
knew what has been discovered by us within the last few 
months. This spinal marrow, called by anatomists medulla 
spinalis, has the appearance of a silver cord ; and hence the 
figure. 

The golden bowl is a kind of membraneous basin of a 
golden color, in which the brain is contained. It is the 
casket in which the gem of all gems is kept. When the 
casket is broken, the gem is lost. 

2M2 



438 The Old Theology. 

"Or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel 
broken at the cistern." The fountain is the left ventricle of 
the heart, whence the blood is thrown out to supply the de- 
mands of the system. As it seems to be the source of supply, 
it may properly be compared to a well, or fountain. The 
pitcher is the aorta, a large artery, which first receives the 
blood from the well. The wheel is that power of contraction 
and dilation, called by anatomists systole and diastole, which 
causes the circulation of the blood. When the pitcher is 
broken — that is, when the aorta is ruptured — instantaneous 
death must ensue ; and such, also, would be the case if the 
wheel were broken, that is, if from asthenia or other cause, 
either the expansion or the contraction of the heart should 
cease. 

Observe that, in describing the awful phenomena of death, 
the poet delicately evades a cruel literality, and represents 
the facts under figures, which, though saddening, are not 
heart-rending. Never before, I suppose, and never since, 
has so terrific a catastrophe as the bursting of the heart, or 
the stoppage of its functions, been described in terms at once 
so graphic and so exhaustive, and at the same time so soft- 
ened by tender sentiment and poetic imagery as to deprive 
them of all severity. We are spared the rude shock which 
the statement of the facts would have made, if clothed in 
harsh words, or even in plain words ; while yet the presenta- 
tion is more vivid than if it had been literal. There is not 
the cold description of the anatomist in scientific terms ; there 
is not the rudeness of the vulgar, nor of the thoughtless ; 
there is not the coarseness of the unfeeling; all is solemn, 
impressive, touching, beautiful, even in ghastly death. None 
could have done it but one, who was at once a poet, a genius, 
a philosopher, and a saint ; and none can appreciate it, who 
have not, to some extent, at least, corresponding qualities. 

" Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and 



Old Age and Death. 439 

the spirit shall return to God who gave it." Here again the 
kingly preacher-poet uses literal terms, which need not be 
explained. 

Now, in regard to the production as a whole, notice : 
1. The inimitable and astounding skill of Solomon as a 
rhetorician, as an artist in words. This little piece of com- 
position alone would have made any man immortal. It has 
no peer in human literature. 

2. Notice his profound knowledge of the demands of 
human nature. The intellectual element calls for plain 
statements, that can be clearly understood. The sensibilities 
call for that which will assuage the severity of the purely 
literal ; and the sacred writer, breathing the spirit of poetry 
into every line, meets each demand, equalling a scientist in 
exactness, and like an angel in tenderness. 

3. Notice his scientific knowledge. Anatomy is not one 
of the recent sciences. It is an old science revived. Two 
hundred and fifty years ago, Harvey in England, discovered 
the circulation of the blood, and the world was startled by his 
announcement. But Solomon had known all about it three 
thousand years before. We are elsewhere told, that he wrote 
an extended treatise on botany, describing every plant 
"from the cedar of Lebanon, to the hyssop that springeth 
out of the wall," and also a treatise on zoology, describing 
every beast, and fowl, and creeping thing, and the fish of the 
sea. His philosophy was spoken in three thousand proverbs, 
and his poems were a thousand and five. 

4. Notice his affecting appeal to youth. He describes to 
them that old age, and that final catastrophe to which they 
are hastening, as fast as Time on its ceaseless, tireless wing 
can waft them ; he puts before them, in colors glowing 
enough to startle, and subdued enough to be inviting, the 
decrepitude, the imbecility, the nervelessness, the sorrows, the 
pains, of the evil day, when even the grasshopper will be a 



440 The Old Theology. 

burden ; and lastly of the final stroke, and of the funeral, 
and the grave, and of the dust, and of the immortal soul, 
and of judgment, and of GOD ; and by all these things of 
thrilling interest, and soul-stirring solemnity, he beseeches 
them, not as a mass, but one at a time, saying, " Keraember 
now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." 

Remember that he is your Creator ; remember that you 
are therefore responsible to him for the life he has given you. 
Remember that you are under supreme obligations of grati- 
tude, reverence, obedience, and love. Remember that time 
is short, and that death is certain. Remember that when old 
age shall overtake you, which it will do apace, your failing 
powers will incapacitate you from radical change in life. 
Remember that God will bring every work into judgment, 
with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be 
evil. Remember all this; rememember it now, — now while 
you have the opportunity. Give your hearts to God now, 
while they are young and fresh, and at least comparatively 
pure. Wait not for the evil day, but remember now thy 
Creator in the morning of life, and at its midday he will 
prosper thee, and when the evening shall come, thy sun will 
set on a sky that is cloudless. 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Abel's sacrifice accepted for 
our sakes no less than 
for his 264 

Abnormal the, lias become 

normal 259 

Accounts, statement of, at 

the Judgment 194 

"Accepted in the Beloved "... 269 

Acorn and the oak 228 

Address of the King to the 

righteous 185 

of the King to the wicked 187 

^olian harp in window of 

heaven 264 

Affectation of frivolity 210 

AfSictions necessary to our 

welfare 298 

Agnostics, men anxious to be 14 

All,graces developed by union 

with Christ 420 

loves united in one 285 

the bad deeds of the wick- 
ed mentioned at the 
Judgment, and none of 

the good 191 

the good deeds of the 
righteous mentioned at 
the Judgment, and none 

of the bad 190 

things at work 290, 291 

things, do they work to- 
gether for evil to God s 

elect? 297 

things work in harmony 
for a purpose 295 

Almond tree the, and the 

grasshopper 436 

Alms-giving the concomitant 

of prayer 367 

Analogy between divine law 

and human law 65, (6 

Analysis of redemption.. 309 

Anarchy results from laws 

without penalties 89 



Anatomy not a new science... 4:;9 

Angel's offer 248 

Annas and Caiaphas, their 

frenzy 405 

Antaeus and Hercules 425 

Antagonistic things working 

together 294, 295 

Antechamber to heaven, the 142 
Apollos, the pupil of Aquila 

andPriscilla 40 

Apostles striving for pre-emi- 
nence 29 

Appearing. The great ap- 
pearing . 229 

Appropriateness of God's 

gifts 248 

Ark of God, trembling for 9 

Artist alone capable of appre- 
ciating the full beauty 

of his work 329 

Artist, the master 346 

Assimilation to God never 

complete 233 

Atonement essential to jus- 
tice 85 

necessary to the honor of 

God 88 

the facts to be held fast 
whether we understand 

its principles or not 84 

Austria, shipwreck of the 248 

Bacon, Lord, his theory 18 

Baconian philosophy applied 
to the interpretation of 

Scripture 180 

Baptism, an act of consecra- 
tion 161 

an act of imitation 160 

an act of obedience 158 

an act of public profes- 
sion 162 

an act of symbolic mean- 
ing 162 



441 



442 



Index. 



PAGE 

Baptism, an act of worship... 159 
a form, but not a mere 

form 158 

a prescribed form 159 

essential in Christ's case 177 

for the dead 342 

God's earthly throne 174 

gospel in epitome 344 

is it essential? lf)6 

its classification 175 

neglect of, not unpardon- 
able 165 

neglect of, may be un- 
pardonable 165 

not meritorious 164 

of no avail 211 

our Lord's first public act 169 

overrated 157, 180 

special reasons for it 343 

spurious 164 

summary of its teachings 343 
symbolizes, actual cleans- 
ing 335 

burial and resurrec- 
tion of Christ 336 

clothed with Christ... 337 

need of cleansing 334 

our own resurrection 342 
union of Christians... 341 

union with Christ 341 

the last tiling Christ spoke 

of 169 

the only duty discharged 
in the name of the 

Trinity 172 

the only duty to be dis 

charged but once. 178 

the only thing ever hon- 
ored by the manifesta- 
tion of the Trinity 173 

underrated 158 

without faith is sin 164 

Barbarism in the name of 

Christianity 377 

Beautiful, the, always useful 402 

Beauty, a revelation 389 

Grod admires it 391 

in baptism 394 

in Christian effort 394 

in newness of life 394 

in peaceful death 394 

in prayer 390 

in repentance 393 



PAGE. 

Beauty, in the hovel 391 

in the saint's ascension. .. 394 

in the sanctuary 391 

none in man without faith 

in Christ 397 

the objective theory of.... 387 
the subjective theory of.. 388 
of holiness, God only sees 

the whole of it 392 

Begerar, preferred to king 222 

Believers made sinless 191 

Benefactors, the only true.. .. 246 
Benevolence essential to true 

religion. 367 

Boasting excluded 224 

Book. Terms of redemption 

recorded in 321 

Book-keeping of heaven not 

like ours 194 

Boldness fictitious 420 

Bosom of God his hiding place 

for his treasures 324 

Bought. Things bought are 

selected 311 

Those bought were also 
given, and none but the 

given were bought 328 

Who are bought? 310 

Bread, we eat it without 
knowing the principle 

of life in the wheat 84 

Bride, the Lamb's wife 278 

Bridges burned 16 

Bruised child runs to his 

mother. 43 

Business, legitimate, when in- 
jurious 207 

Butterfly and worm 228 

Buyer. God as a buyer selects 
with care, and not in 
haste 312 

Cain's offering as good as 

Abel's 89 

Can Tny sin be for my good ? . 301 
Care taken of what is bought 

with Son's blood 323 

Ceremonial religion worthless 211 
Ceremonies all wrong unless 

prescribed 375 

Chariot, he saw it ! he saw it ! 246 
Chastisement never inflicted 

except for our good 298 



Index. 



443 



Chattels, men are in redemp- 
tion 324 

Checked off. God's purchase is 313 
Chief of sinners may be ciiief 

of lovers 303 

Choice of the elect, when was 

it made? 322 

Christ, a miracle 79 

a revelation 389 

answers for our guilt 100 

beginning and end of his 

ministry 170 

divinity of 325 

four ti.ings seen in liim by 

tlie saints 266 

his brotherhood with us 274 
his character its own wit- 
ness 80 

his death not beneficial to 

all 101 

his dual nature ... lOU 

his esteem for his Fatlier's 

gift 283 

his first public act.. 169 

his first public utterance 168 
his last words on earth.... 169 

his love for his people 195 

his righteousness set to 
tlie credit of his saints 100 
129, 194 
his work part of the law 

of God 91 

if not precious to us here 
will not be so hereafter 286 

must have the best 121 

removes the curse of the 
law, but not its obliga- 
tion 128 

thinks of us now, and ac- 
knowledges services 
rendered tf) us as if ren- 
dered to hun 195 

what he has done for us... 328 
Christian, greatest delight 

of 267 

his motive the same as 

Christ's 124 

would lose by exclianging 
places with the patri- 
archs. 263 

Christian love endl ss and 

deepest 222 

Cicero d2 S3nectut 430 



PAGE. 

Cicero on nnity of guilt, 

(foot-note) 73 

City saved for sake of one man 240 
Classification, we judge of 

things by 174 

Clothed with Christ 337 

Clouds returning 433 

Company of the good to be 

sought 244 

Confluence of spirits. 270 

Co-operation of all events and 

things 292 

Courage, gospel develops it 

418, 419, 421 

Cou4n quoted 388 

Covenant between the Father 

and the Son 283 

Crown-princes of God 225 

Curse and blessing measured 

by each other 60 

Daughters of music, the 435 

David, as saint, philosopher, 

and poet 386 

his crime the occasion of 

the Fifty-first Psalm 302 

Day of Judgment, liow re- 
garded by good men and 
bad men respectively... 185 
Dearly bought, securely cared 

for 323 

Death of innocent atoning for 
the guilty incomprehen- 
sible 84 

Deceitfulness of sin 205 

"Decently and in order" 376 

Dedication to God brings us 

nigh to him 259 

Defiant spirit of Peter and 

John 407 

Dependence, spiritual abso- 
lute 45 

Depravity total 56, 75 

Desire fail ing 436 

for nearness to God 253 

Details, God's attention to 313 

Development eternal, both 

mental and moral ]48 

Diet, the best intellectual 417 

Dignity of the sacrifice for sin 15^ 

Disc, the disc of pure gold 193 

Disease dreadful, not sus- 
pected 144 



444 



Index. 



PAGE. 

Disencumbered already, if 
ready to be disencum- 
bered 260 

Disorderly conduct to be 

dealt with 378 

Disregard for the world en- 
joined 38 

Divine,law armed witli divine 

power 60 

nature not super-imposed 

(foot-note) 84 

perfections the imitable... 396 
Doctrine worthless if it can- 
not be prayed and sung... 106 

Doing,is a heart-hardener 214 

not acceptable even if good 193 
various Scriptures on ...... 133 

"Don't try any more." 109 

Drawing nigh to God ex- 
plained 252,260 

Duty discharged, no ground 

for justification 112 

Duty is privilege 259,326 

Dykes broken 57 

Election of saints dated 322 

Elisha, his pertinacious adhe- 
rence to Elijah 245 

Encouragement for those of 

enormous guilt 304 

Enough to know 229 

Equity, court of 82,100 

Doves, why sellers of driven 

from temple 372 

Escape, none 78 

Essential to duty, but not to 

salvation 166 

Essentials and non-essentials 

46, 123, 124 

Estimate'placed by the rigiit- 

eous on their good works 188 

Everlasting destruction of the 

wicked 60, 83, 198 

Everything for the worse 215 

Evidence of state saved or un- 
saved 136 

Evils (three) from baptizing 
unconverted persons 38U, 381 

ExcelL^nce developed in the 

saints forever 147 

Exceptions, where (xotl makes 
none, we sliould make 
none 258 



PAGE. 

Excuses of the sinner replied 

to by the Holy Ghost... 214 

Expression of feeling devel- 
ops it 271 

Fact and truth, difference be- 
tween 178 

Factsof baptism 179 

Fairness in discussion 9 

Faith, and love implj each 

other 129 

a necessity of human 

nature 41 

defined and explained 101 

in Christ, full effect of 

it 129 

its instant effect 102 

superior to sight, and 

better rewarded 197, 263 

Fall of man 56 

Fatlier's gilt to daughter. 235 

Favorites allowed. 37 

Fear,defined and explained... 124 
and trembling, grounds 

for 25 

when a disgrace 118 

Feeling, when of no avail 286 

Figures of speech, why used 

149, 309 

Fireman, the brave 118 

Flame, is it real? 149 

Flowers and trees on the 

King s highway 251 

Forbidden fruit, one taste 

enough 75 

Forgiveness impossible with- 
out blood 87 

Fountain, staying away from. 94 

Fraud, none in heaven 312 

tlie deepest 212 

Free agency defined 11 

agency denied 12 

Friendship of Christ 278 

Frivolity, affectation of 210 

hardens the heart 209 

Fundamental principle of sal- 
vation 23 » 

Gift, magnificent 238, 248,249 

of the Father to the Son. 281 

Gift and purchase, different 
aspects of on transaction 328 



Index. 



445 



Glory revealed in us 227 

God, anxious to be gracious.... 243 

eagerly listening 262 

forgives not by direct 

act 89 

gives himself to us 269 

his feelings like ours 274 

his holiness, intellectual- 
ity, and taste 395 

his pledge of blood 89 

inimitable in many re- 
spects ; Ciiri>t imitable 

in all 398 

on trial before man 64 

prepares his saints f' r 

heaven 190 

united with man 92 

watching his own 324 

Good the, and the bad on the 

same footing 112 

the beautiful and the true 
an analysis of imitable 

perfections 396 

works cast down, yet held 

up 135 

Goodness, new inducement 

to 244 

Gospel, adapted to ignorant 

and weak minded 410 

adapted to wisest and 

greatest 411 

has it disappointed ex- 
pectations? 412 

incomprehensible 83 

it makes men great 411 

its offers made to all 156 

its power acknowledged 

now 413, 4:14 

supplies truth, elevating, 
fundamental, varied, 

practical 414, 415, 416 

Grace, a tree of the Lord's 

planting 27 

dispensation of, same as 
dispensation of Provi- 
dence 237, 239 

Grapes of Eschol 234 

Great things not named with 

small 170 

Grounds for rejoicing, grati- 
tude, exultation, humil- 
ity, consecration, amaze- 
ment, and enthusiasm.. 327 



Growing, the child of God 48 

Guilt, grades in, none 70 

Its possibilities exhausted 68 

the measure of 58 



Half-way compliance 210 

Hallelujah! Amen! 221 

Happiness of the world un- 
satisfying 267 

Hardening the heart, ex- 
plained 201-4, 351 

often unintentional... 205,207 

one's own act 204 

Harmony, of Gods attributes. 87 
of solar and sidereal sys- 
tems 293 

Heads to be counted if hairs 

are 314 

Heart, how hardened 206, 207 

209, 210, 211, 212 
has experiences which 
cannot be explained to 
the understanding. 261. 270 
more orthodox than head 106 
Heaven. A heaven-inspired 

heaven 230 

and hell both prepared 190 

subjective as well as ob- 
jective 230 

Heirs of tlie Throne now on 

earth 227 

Hell, is it a figure of speech ?. 149 
not prepared for man .. 188 

Helplessness of sinners 45 

Hidden treasures in bosom of 

God 324 

Hiding place in the rock not 

needed 229 

Highest style of man 402 

Hiss of the serpent 70 

Honestraen and lovely women 
on the left hand at the 

Judgment 191 

Honor with the lowly 248 

Hope,defined and explained . 126 
and fear both appealed 

to 1^0 

none for unbelievers 216 

of the righteous, based 

on what? 188 

of the wicked based on 
what?. 188 



2N 



446 



Index. 



PAGE. 

Horace, quoted, 74, and (foot- 
note) 144 

Human, government not en- 
forcing its own law 88 

knowledge all renounced 422 
nature at the Judgment 

thesameasit isnow 189 

nature, dignity of 55 

race doomed 61, 96 

Humility,as opposed to ambi- 
tion 36 

as opposed to pride 37 

Husband and wife unequally 

yoked 222 

Hymns more orthodox than 

sermons 106 

Hypocrites pretending to seek 

truth 23 

Ideal (the) the only real 389 

Idiot, chattering 24 

" I don't feel like it." 47 

Impossible, things which 
seem to be so, are often 
accepted of necessity. ... 297 
to God, but not to men.... 86 
Incomprehensibility of the 
gospel no reason why 
we should not accept it 84 
Infinite the, always beyond 

our reach 21 

Ingenuity, human, chal- 
lenged 344 

Ingratitude to benefactor 247 

Inscription frightful on the 

disc of gold 194 

Insomnia of the aged 435 

Intelligent worship the best . 399 
Interview with God a ques- 
tion of time 253 

Invitation to all 264 

Is it essential? A meaning- 
less question 167 

"Jesus lover of my soul" 

quoted 89 

Jesus on the sick bed 197 

Joining the church of no 

avail...... 211 

Justice, administration of, not 
committed to men (foot- 
note) 87 



PAGE. 

Justice ignored without the 

atonement 88 

Justification, by faith defined, 97 
is disagreeable to hu- 
man nature... 107 

is peculiar to the gos- 
pel 108 

what follows it 101 

Keeping part of the law does 
not excuse for violating 

another part 76 

King, Christ our 278 

Kingdom of heaven explained 32 
is prepared for the 

saints 185 

Know, what we know 228 

Knowledge of Jesus para- 
mount 422 

Koh-i-noor the, and grains of 

corn 314 

Laban blest for Jacob's sake.. 2S8 

Labor glorifies God 326 

Language, inadequacy of 25 

Languid obedience 136 

Law, universal 21 

and gospel harmonious. 82, 83 

a seller 315 

divine and human, com- 
pared 65, 66 

implies a lawgiver 52 

its advantages gained by 

redemption 319 

moral, its adaptation to us 54 

it is necessary 53 

not changed, but we are 

changed 79 

not suspended 113 

of God eternal 128 

of God is himself ex- 
pressed 67 

or gospel, which easier to 

obey? 103 

personified 315 

satisfied by redemption... 319 
supreme, acquiescence in 63 
Learned the, taught by the 

unlearned 40 

Like begets like 229 

Likeness to God, the cause of it 231 
Limits, none to the saints do- 
main 296 



Index. 



447 



PAGE. 

Little child and disciple, sum- 
mary of resemblances 

between 49 

"Little ones" of Scripture 

not infants, but men 36 

Little children, depraved 36 

texts referring to per- 
verted 30 

Lord's Supper of no avail 211 

Losses counted up... 358, 359 360, 
361, 362, 363 
Love, a stronger force than 

fear 118 

a stronger force than hope 117 

for the lowly 38 

in rills, in a river 284 

of teacher for pupils 282 

Christian, indissoluble.... 221 
not understood by 

others 223 

different kinds of. 221 

and wrath of God the 
measure of each other.. 60 

Maniac boy, the 212 

Meal fully leavened, and 
meal partly leavened, 
illustrate the difference 
between great sinners 

and others 76 

Mediator demanded by our 

nature 256 

Men, helpless as children 44 

not dealt with in this 
life according to their 

deeds 241 

Metaphysics, use of. 389, 390 

Mind becomes what it con- 
templates 231 

Misdirected letters always in 
same proportion (foot- 
note) ._ 19 

Mistakes, none in heaven 315 

Mode, the best only is right. . 330 
Modern experience confirms 

prophecy 265 

Moloch, children sacrificed to 93 
Money-changers driven from 

the temi)le— why? 373 

Moral perception superior to 

natural 263 

Moralit;^ a beautiful de- 
ceiver 211 



PAGE. 

Moses, Luke, and Gamaliel, 

referred to 422 

Motherly feeling in Christ 276 

Motive, new, developed by 

Christ 115 

the test of character 121 

to obedience not taken 

away by the doctrine 

of justification by faith. 113 
which led to the purchase 

of the redeemed 318 

"Mould of doctrine" referred 

to 343 

Mourner comforted 265 

Music of David's poetry in 

three parts 386 

Nations blest for Israel' s sake 240 

Natural virtue worthless 192 

Negative sins only mentioned 

at the Judgment 188 

Neglect, is rejection 155 

Necessity, God is under none 236 

New departure 140 

version, text from 127 

Niagara, man in the rapids .. 212 

No Paul without Saul 302 

remedy 354 

sin, no salvation 305 

Nothingto be done 107 

Numbers, no certain sign of 
prosperity; may be just 
the reverse 381 

Oath, the Almighty brought 

to his 216 

Obedience, and faith, the two 

pillars...... 26 

when genuine 46 

such as ours, cannot save 98 
more obligatory since 

Christ died 128 

to God assimilates us to 

him 234 

Obey. Those only obey who 
do exactly what they 

are told to do 331 

Objections to justification by 

faith 104, 105 

Object-teaching of Christ 34 

Objects of the atonement 143, 147 
Occasion great enough for 

God's oath 217 



448 



Index. 



Old Christians to begin afresh, 

like new converts 139 

Old story;, the, forever new... 99 
One,opiniononlyinl800years 417 

sin only is possible 68 

thing only done in the 

name of the Trinity 171 

Opponents of justification by 

faith are in bad company 108 
Opportunities, now better 

than when Christ was 

on earth 196 

on earth which are not 

in heaven itself 195 

Optical illusion of the mind... 22 

Outbreaking crime 211 

Out of reach of light from the 

Throne 271 

Paradox, five escapes from... 11 

in the heart 20 

forever unsolved 15 

need not be solved 17 

Paradoxes never interfere 

with business 17 

Pardon, how made impossible 93 
Parallax of fixed stars (foot- 
note).. 21 

Parental displeasure insup- 
portable 44 

Pastor, Christ our 278 

Pattern of Christ followed in 

baptism 339 

Christ our 341 

Paul, his object in writing to 

the Galatians 99 

his doctrine and his prac- 
tice 114 

at sea 237 

partakes of Christ's glory 249 

the outcome of Saul 302 

Penalty proportionate to guilt 60 
Peter, and John outdoing 

angels 408 

the greatest sinner and the 

foremost apostle 302 

Perfect man needs no salva- 
tion 95 

"Perish the university" 422 

Personality of God 68 

Persons not addressed by the 
Holy Ghost, nor appeal- 
ed to by the preacher... 201 



Persons, our, belong to the 

Law 315 

Pharaoh, his work for good... 300 

Philosophers from Plato to 
Huxley, abandoned in 
favor of Peter and John 422 

Philosophy, its failure as to 

the mass of mankind... 411 

Photograph of the soul 353 

Physical enjoyment glorifies 

God 326 

universe good but not 
lovely 54 

Plato, his philosophy 388 

Pleasures, sometimes inju- 
rious though legitimate 207 

Poem sublime translated into 

an unworthy language. 262 

Poetry and fine arts, use of... 402 
Hebrew 431 

Poor the, and ignorant pro- 
vided for 411 

Potiphar blest for Joseph's 

sake 239 

Post of duty the best stand- 
point to see God 234 

Power of the gospel denied 

by none 418 

Practical, nature of the gospel 
the real ground of ob- 
jection to it by those 
who complain that it is 

unpractical 208 

questions 138 

Praise to God, a duty and a 

privilege 254 

Prayer, a heart-hardener 215 

when useless 68 

more orthodox than ser- 
mons 106 

Precept, the first in the New 
Testament is embodied 
in example 331 

Precipice, one falling from, 

and one about to fall... 78 

Premonitions of eternal love 

144, 145 

Price of the redeemed 316, 317 

Pride, all men have it . 13 

Principles of adjudication at 

_ the last day 184 

Privilege of ministering to 

Christ in person 190 



Index. 



449 



Problems, difficult not con- 
fined to morals 18 

some out of reach 16 

Procrastination 212 

Promises, God pleased to be 

reminded of. 42 

Promise with a condition 251 

Pominentmen to be excluded 

if disorderly 380 

Protest of human nature 

against the law of God. 62 

Providence, and grace based 

on same principles. 237, 239 
inscrutable 22 

Public profession of Christ 

a duty 330 

Purchase, God purchased 
what he intended to pur- 
chase, no more, no less. 313 
of salvation by us, im- 
possi^ble 122 

Purchaser,should see that he 

gets what he pays for... 313 
should take no more than 
he pays for 314 

Quality more important than 

quantity 382 

Queen Esther's resolve 272 

Quotation from the Old Testa- 
ment, the most solemn 
one 200 

Quotations from Scripture on 

justification by faith.... 110 

Kailroad, bars of 20 

Rapture of Christ in welcom- 
ing his redeemed 287 

Recreations, our, glorify Gofl 326 

Redemption, analysis of. 309 

a good bargain to both 

parties 319 

a necessity 324 

obligates us to effort 325 

Redeemer, revelation of more 
glorious than that of 
Creator 281 

Redeeming the time ex- 
plained 357 

Regenerate men alone are fit 
for membership in a 
church 383 

Regeneration explained 



Regeneration occasioned by 

depravity 224 

Regulus at Carthage 411 

Relation, each gives rise to its 

own emotions 279 

Relations to God innumer- 
able, and each has affec- 
tions peculiar to itself.. 283 

Religion, of Christ a religion 

of -doing 131 

of Christ claims more 
than any other, and also 

less than any other 131 

of Jesus sneered at 410 

literature, and aesthetics.. 386 

Remedy complete. 355 

Reminaers that all things work 

together for good... 306, 307 

Repentance, when useless.... 58 

Reply, of the righteous to the 

King at the Judgment. 186 
of the wicked to the King 
at the Judgment. ., 188 

Reproof frequent and varied 

347-351 

Resemblance of saints to 

God to be manifest. 230-275 

Resolutions, to take effect in 
future translated into 

an address to God 366 

worthless, if to take effect 
to-morrow 365 

Responsibility, there is none if 

men are not free agents 14 

Resurrection, of Christ sym- 
bolized 342 

our own symbolized 342 

Rest, God swears that there 

shall be none 218 

Revelations, made to angels 

by the saints 227 

occasioned by sin 301 

to the heart superior to 
those made to the un- 
derstanding 270 

Rewards, of holiness 150 

of hope 116 

Rich saint needs sympathy 

and love 198 

Righteous and wicked show 
their respective char- 
acters at the Judgment 
Day 189 



2N2 



450 



Index. 



PAGE. 

Romans, Epistle to, teaches 

good works.... 135 

Sacrifice infinite, men grop- 
ing for 93 

necessary to forgiveness... 88 
of animals, why com- 
manded? ; 90 

why not practice it now ? 92 

Saints, babes in embryo 230 

have sinned; angels 
never did ; yet saints 
more blest than angels.. 304 

no two alike 227 

to excel angels 149 

Salvation,an unfixed quantity 

if not of grace 25 

begins on earth 135 

is for none but for those 
who were both given 

and bought.. 329 

of insane and idiots 31 

of sinners not in violation 

of law 316 

universal in one sense. 241, 242 

why it is great 143 

without obedience 96 

Safe mistake, if a mistake.... 109 
Sanctifier, his love for the 

sanctified 283 

Satan, his history 77 

working for good 301 

Satisfied, immaterial whether 

we are or not 16 

Saved on one account, re- 
warded on another 242 

Scientific, knowledge of Solo- 
mon 439 

studies, the use of 401 

Scripture better than logic... 325 
Scriptures inspired, but 

preaching not 374 

Secret, of the fishermen's 

power 409 

from the seer of Patmos. 228 

Secure with Jesus 250 

Seeing,God as he is 232 

the Invisible 389 

Selection is election 311 

Self-righteousness fatal 94 

of the wicked apparent 

at the Judgment..... 189 

Shame, all men have it 13 



PAGE. 

Ship with only one leak 68 

Sick saint same as sick 

Saviour 196 

Sight, failure of. 432 

more impressive than 

hearing 332 

Silver cord and the golden 

bowl 428,437 

Sin, exceeding sinfulness of.. 59 
homogeneous and self- 
perpetuating 72 

like leaven 72 

the occasion of grace 301 

we shall never hear of it. 191 

working for good 300 

Sinai holy, yet only earth up- 
heaved 70 

Sinner better or worse for 

every sermon he hears. 205 

despises Christ 154 

does not desire salvation 

from sin 153 

does not wish to be holy. 153 
not enticed by heaven it- 
self. 154 

of a single sin, none 71 

scofis at the Almighty 154 

Sinners' questions answered 

by the Holy Ghost 218 

saved as Paul's compan- 
ions were saved 243 

Sins of omission, the only ones 
mentioned at the Judg- 
ment 188 

Sisterly feeling in Christ 275 

Sleep glorifies God 326 

Sodom, Abraham's prayer 

for 240 

Sons of God, but not full- 
grown 227 

in perdition! 225 

Sonship of the saints complete 

now as it will ever be... 227 
Sorrow spoken, diflferent from 

sorrow acted 364 

Sorrows are treasures 299 

Solomon, his gifts and attain- 
ments 439 

Sophistry of the pit 47 

Sovereignty of God defined... 10 

denied 11 

Speculative inquiry damag- 
ing to the soul 207 



Index. 



451 



PACE. 

Spiritual,communication pos- 
sible 263 

dependence absolute 45 

Spurgeon referred to 138 

Spy-glass resolves paradox... 21 
Standard-bearer dipping his 

colors 423 

Stature diminishing with age. 433 
Strong vision sees no conflict 
where weak vision 

does 22 

Suddenness of destruction... 353 
Suicide, modes of, always in 

the same proportion... 19 
Suicides, the annual propor- 
tion always the same.... 18 
Sunday-school, not desirable 
to hold it in church 

building 371 

Symbolical preaching 333 

Sympathy better than char- 
ity 197 

Surprise, of the righteous 187 

our greatest in heaven... 230 
Surroundings influence char- 
acter 231 

Taste developed in heaven .. 151 

in worship 401, 402 

Tennyson quoted 407 

Tetiiptation blest to the saints. 299 
Thoughts, our, noticed and 
counted as well as our 

hairs 271 

Thieves and murderers on the 
right hand at the Judg- 
ment 191 

Theological diflSculties raised 

from bad motives 209 

Timidity of old age 436 

Title-deed. is evidence of right 
to property, but does 

not gv^e the right 186 

of saints written in blood. 296 

Threefold cord, the 277 

"To-day," says the Spirit; 
"To-morrow," says the 

sinner 213 

Total cleansing symbolized.. 336 
Trial. A man on trial for 

life 188 

Tribunal, august, trembling 

before two fishermen... 410 



PAGE. 

Trifles so regarded by us 
bring the Almighty to 
his oath and to his 

^ wrath 217 

Trinity manifested once only. 173 
Triumphs, the grandest of . ., 47 

"Trying to do better" 213 

Turning point, the 219 

Turnstile, the 10 

Unbeliever disputes God's 

veracity 193 

Unlearned men not to be de- 
spised 424 

Unity of God's law 67 

Unity of the divine opera- 
tions 292 

Use of good works 132 

Value of souls.; 322 

Vicarious blessing always ac- 
knowledged in Chris- 
tian prayer 237 

the philosophy of, not re- 
vealed 235 

Vineyard, the boundless 234 

Virtue, there is no such thing 
unless it proceeds from 

the love of God 192 

Visit, the value of. 197 

Vocabulary of grace, the 221 

Vow, voluntary in baptism... 338 

Wealth of the saints 324 

What must I do? 107 

When did redemption take 

place? 320 

When was the contract of re- 
demption made? 321 

Who is my neighbor? 139 

Who is greatest? 34 

"Whosoever believeth" 97 

Why fear and tremble to the 

last? 26 

Wicked, the, dealt with on 
same principles as the 

righteous 242, 243 

fate of. 149 

prepare themselves f o r 

hell 190 

Widow, poor, provoking 

God's goodness 247 



452 



Index. 



PAGE. 

Window in apostle's "breast... 25 
"Willis, N. P., his poetry 

quoted 339 

Wine, blood-colored, . why 

used 90 

Wonder. The saints a 

wonder to the angels.... 227 
Wonders, of the gospel no 

greater than the wonder 

of existence 86 

Work develops grace 141 

Working out salvation, what 

meantby 26 



World, the, seeks a sign, and 

has a right to seek it 141 

Worlds working together 294 

Worship, even if real, sinful 
unless done in the right 
way^ illustrated by the 
Second Commandment. 375 

Wrath, the Almighty brought 

to his 217 

Wrong is not in what one 

does, but in what he is.. 58 

Zoar blest for Lot's sake 239 



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